Dell Technologies and Hewlett Packard Enterprise shares rose in premarket trading on Wednesday after Super Micro Computer issued a stronger-than-expected preliminary financial outlook, providing fresh evidence of demand for artificial intelligence infrastructure even as investors question the sustainability of enterprise AI spending.
Super Micro’s shares surged more than 12% after the company raised its revenue forecast for the quarter ended September 30 and projected higher gross margins than previously expected.
Dell shares gained nearly 5%, while HPE rose around 4%.
Super Micro now expects quarterly revenue of $18.5 billion to $19.5 billion, up from its previous guidance of $14.5 billion to $15.5 billion.
Analysts tracked by FactSet had forecast revenue of $14.9 billion.
The midpoint of the revised range implies revenue growth of around 279% from the year-earlier period.
The company also expects gross margin, a measure of profitability after accounting for the cost of goods sold, to reach 12% to 12.5%.
That compares with its previous forecast of 10.4% to 10.8%.
Stronger outlook lifts AI hardware stocks
Super Micro, Dell and HPE are major suppliers of computing infrastructure used to support AI workloads, including generative AI applications, large language models and enterprise computing systems.
The latest update from Super Micro has therefore offered investors a positive signal about demand for AI servers and related hardware.
Evercore ISI analyst Amit Daryanani said a gross margin of 12% to 12.5% would be “an impressive feat” for Super Micro, given that rival Dell Technologies has historically commanded a “historical pricing premium in AI servers.”
“We view the update as a positive data point for AI compute demand,” Daryanani wrote in a note to clients.
He added that Super Micro’s figures bode well for Dell and Hewlett Packard Enterprise, “with the combination of revenue upside and better-than-expected margins particularly notable.”
The rally comes after a strong run for both companies this year.
The rally follows substantial gains for both companies this year. Dell shares have risen around 267% in 2026, while HPE has advanced approximately 134%, based on Tuesday’s closing prices.
However, both stocks have recently come under pressure as investors question whether enterprise AI spending can justify elevated valuations. Dell has fallen about 19% over the past five trading sessions, while HPE has declined approximately 18.5%.
Barclays warns enterprise AI spending remains limited
In a report to clients last week, Barclays downgraded its ratings on Dell, HPE and NetApp amid uncertainty about the timing of enterprise AI spending.
Barclays analyst Tim Long lowered Dell to Equal Weight from Overweight and cut his price target to $574 from $603.
The revised target still implies upside of around 24% from Tuesday’s closing price.
The Barclays analysts said they had not seen a “meaningful AI inflection” in enterprise spending for Dell, HPE and NetApp, attributing much of the recent revenue strength to higher memory costs.
“There is growing sentiment about enterprise AI adoption creating a hardware refresh,” the Barclays analysts wrote, adding that businesses are typically allocating just 5% of their IT budgets to AI.
“We believe the strong enterprise revenues are more of a function of memory costs than a move to enterprise AI at this time.”
Despite the cautious assessment, analyst sentiment remains broadly positive.
According to the Wall Street Journal’s analyst data, 18 of 33 analysts covering Dell have Buy ratings, four have Overweight ratings and 10 have Hold ratings, with no Sell ratings.
The average price target stands at $599.69.
For HPE, 13 of 27 analysts have Buy ratings, 11 have Hold ratings and three have Overweight ratings.
The average price target is $73.05, implying potential upside of around 30% from current levels.
Investors await Super Micro’s full results
Super Micro’s preliminary business update provided only limited details, leaving investors waiting for a clearer picture of the sources of demand and the sustainability of its improved performance.
The company is scheduled to report its official earnings results on November 3.
Daryanani said questions remain over how much of Super Micro’s September-quarter business came from major cloud companies and how much was generated by newer cloud infrastructure providers such as CoreWeave and SpaceX.
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