Dell Lays Off 8,000; 1Q Earnings Sag

Employees walk past the Dell headquarters building, Wednesday, May 30, 2007, in Round Rock, Texas. Dell Inc. is expected to release quarterly earnings on Thursday, May 31, 2007. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum) (Matt Slocum - AP)

"I don't think the Dell model is broken, it just needs some tweaking," Durell said. "Dell is still Dell and that's not going to change."

Dell issued the financial results as a news release and didn't offer any follow-up conference calls with analysts or reporters. The company didn't provide year-ago figures in its report either.

The company's earnings statements from the second, third and fourth quarters also remain preliminary and have yet to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission because of an ongoing federal accounting probe that found numerous errors, evidence of misconduct and financial control deficiencies.

Thursday's report included a charge of $46 million, or 2 cents per share, for costs related to the investigation. Dell didn't offer specific guidance but said the second quarter could be tougher due to a seasonal slowdown for the company and continued expenses related to the investigations.

Dell also hasn't filed its annual report for the fiscal year ended Feb. 2.

Thomas W. Luce III, chairman of the Dell's internal audit committee, conceded that the investigation was taking longer than expected.

"Although this process has taken us longer than we would have liked," Luce explained, "it is important to commit the time and resources required to ensure a thorough and comprehensive review and resolution of all identified issues and the implementation of appropriate remedial measures."

Without offering a timetable, Dell spokesman David Frink said the probe was in its final phases.

Durell said he was convinced that if Dell had some major financial restatements to make, they would have been announced by now.

"Nobody these days wants to go ahead with any of these restatements without going through everything with a very fine-toothed comb," he said.

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