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Booming sales of enterprise servers and services and strong demand among small and midsize businesses are among the key factors in Dell Inc. raising the guidance for its second-quarter financials.
At the companys annual shareholder meeting Friday, officials with the Round Rock, Texas, company will announce that they are raising the earnings-per-share projection for the quarter—which ends July 30—to 31 cents, up from 29 cents.
At the same meeting, Kevin Rollins, the companys longtime president and chief operating officer, officially will take over the CEO position from founder Michael Dell, who will remain chairman of the company.
The change in leadership was announced in March. Dell officials said that while Rollins will move into the top spot, there would be little change in how the company operates.
Rollins, who in his previous role oversaw much of the companys day-to-day operations, will continue in that role. Dell will continue to focus on the companys strategic direction, which includes such areas as technology and research and development. It has been that two-headed leadership that has enabled the company to become the top PC vendor in the world—often trading the top spot with Hewlett-Packard Co. —and expand its offerings to include everything from enterprise servers and storage to printers and plasma televisions.
In announcing the increased second-quarter forecast, Dell officials also cited increased demand in regions outside of the United States—including Europe, the Middle East and Africa—higher profits on operations, and a decline in its global tax rate.
The company is still expecting to generate $11.7 billion in revenue in the quarter. Financial results will be announced Aug. 12.