TLDR
- Dell Technologies (DELL) stock fell about 12% on Wednesday, its worst day in more than a year.
- Barclays cut Dell, HPE, and NetApp to Equal Weight from Overweight.
- Dell’s price target dropped to $574 from $603, and HPE’s fell to $77 from $83.
- Analyst Tim Long said the rally looks tied to memory costs, not a clear AI boost.
- CEO Michael Dell told CNBC that AI demand will outpace supply through 2030.
Dell Technologies (DELL) stock dropped about 12% on Wednesday and traded near $506 in the afternoon. It was on pace for its worst day since April 3, 2025, when it fell 19%.
The trigger was a Barclays downgrade. Analyst Tim Long cut Dell, HPE, and NetApp to Equal Weight from Overweight.
Long lowered his Dell price target to $574 from $603. His HPE target fell to $77 from $83, and his NetApp target stayed at $219.
HPE was down about 8% by late morning after ending Tuesday down 2%. NetApp dropped 7% and had traded at $226.10 earlier in the day.
Why Barclays Turned Cautious
Long said he entered the year positive on all three stocks. He felt worries about rising memory costs were overdone, and that call worked out.
All three stocks have run hard in 2026. Dell had climbed 355% as of Tuesday’s close, HPE had gained 186%, and NetApp had added 123%.
Long thinks much of that run came from how the companies handled higher memory costs. Those costs have pushed up revenue across the group.
He does not see a “meaningful AI inflection yet.” He wants to see product adoption and better business results first.
“We believe the strong enterprise revenues are more of a function of memory costs than a move to enterprise AI at this time,” Long said. Those are blunt words for a stock up this much.
Wall Street is still mostly positive. HPE holds an average Buy rating with a $73.05 price target, based on FactSet data.
HPE has 12 Buy ratings, eight Hold ratings, and no Sell ratings. Dell has 18 Buy ratings, seven Hold ratings, and two Sell ratings.
Dell’s average price target is $599.69. That sits well above where the stock traded on Wednesday.
Michael Dell Stays Upbeat on AI
CEO Michael Dell spoke with CNBC on Wednesday and sounded upbeat. He said AI infrastructure demand keeps outpacing supply, and he expects that to last through 2030.
He admitted long-term forecasts are uncertain. A new chip plant can take about four years to build, while AI models are moving much faster.
Dell said early spending came from frontier AI labs and big tech companies. Broader enterprise adoption is now starting to add to growth, though he called it early.
He also split his company’s role from Nvidia’s. Nvidia helps build the technology, while Dell builds the systems customers use to run it.
Even after Wednesday’s drop, Dell stock is on pace for its best yearly performance ever. Benzinga data showed it down 11.59% at $506.14 at the time of publication.
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