Dell is more dependent than is HP on business spending, which has picked up more slowly than consumer spending after the recession. It also lacks a services business on the scale of HP's and IBM's, which provide those companies with better profit margins.

However, Dell said it had been encouraged by an uptick in business spending at the end of last quarter and was optimistic about the rest of the year.

Earlier Monday, it expected PC shipments to increase 2.8 percent this year, much better than its forecast of a 12 percent decline at the start of the year. It expects revenue from PC sales to fall by 11 percent, however, in part because consumers are buying low-cost netbooks instead of full-featured PCs.