Dell ($DELL) booked $60B in AI orders in 3 months. Its rival needed a year for the same total. Record revenue and profit, backlog nearly doubled, guidance raised. Free cash flow fell almost half. Orders are real. Cash isn't there yet. Our video breaks it down. 👇

Dell stock rose on Friday after RBC Capital Markets initiated coverage of the computer maker and gave it an outperform rating and a price target of $640. Read more:

DELL $DELL CLOSED +12.0% TODAY, THE BEST PERFORMER IN THE S&P 500 Nine of eleven sectors finished green. Technology led at +1.1%, with 34 of its 50 names higher. Hardware and semis came all the way back: - Dell $DELL +12.0% - Arista Networks $ANET +5.6% - Analog Devices $ADI +4.9% - Amphenol $APH +4.6% - Cisco $CSCO +4.4% - Marvell $MRVL +4.0% - Texas Instruments $TXN +3.8% - Intel $INTC +2.6% - Advanced Micro Devices $AMD +2.5% Google $GOOGL +1.8% carried Communication Services. Apple $AAPL +1.8%, Amazon $AMZN +1.9%, Netflix $NFLX +1.8%. Utilities and Healthcare were the only red sectors. UnitedHealth $UNH -2.4% was the weakest large name, and Oracle $ORCL fell another -1.7%.

Dell is seeking to raise about $4 billion from an investment-grade bond sale, joining a wave of issuers seeking to refinance debt as it rides an AI-driven boom in demand for servers.

DELL SURGED 16% ON A STRONG OUTLOOK, WHILE THE FED'S BEIGE BOOK SHOWED U.S. ACTIVITY ROSE MODESTLY OVER THE PAST TWO MONTHS ON DATA-CENTER DEMAND, AS AUGUST JOB CREATION SLOWED AND NY FED PRESIDENT WILLIAMS SAID INFLATION CONTINUES TO EASE AS TARIFF EFFECTS FADE.