Shares of PC Makers Fall as AI Adoption Stumbles

Major U.S. equities indexes lost ground on the last trading day before Thanksgiving.

The latest Personal Consumption Expenditure (PCE) data, released Wednesday morning, showed annual price increases of 2.3% in October, an uptick from September’s rate of 2.1%. The Federal Reserve closely monitors the PCE, and the indication of stubborn inflation could influence policymakers as they weigh additional interest rate cuts.

The S&P 500 slipped 0.4% during the pre-holiday session. The Dow was down 0.3%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq closed 0.6% lower.

Personal computer (PC) manufacturer Dell Technologies (DELL) released a mixed quarterly report, edging out profit estimates but missing sales forecasts. Although artificial intelligence (AI) demand helped boost the company’s networking and server revenue, Dell’s chief operating officer (COO) said on the earnings call that the AI business “will not be linear,” suggesting that AI-driven growth will be a gradual process as customers adapt to the shifting technology landscape. Dell shares plunged 12.3% on Wednesday, the steepest drop of any stock in the S&P 500.

Shares of fellow PC maker and printer specialist HP (HPQ) plunged 11.3% after the company reported results for its fiscal fourth quarter. Although profits for the period matched expectations, sales were slightly below forecasts, and profit guidance for the current quarter came in below consensus estimates. AI PCs accounted for just 17% of sales for the full year, suggesting that adoption by consumers remains muted, and HP’s outlook raised concerns about overall PC demand trends.

Design, engineering, and construction software provider Autodesk (ADSK) reported better-than-expected quarterly sales and profits, but its shares fell 8.6% as the company announced a transition in its chief financial officer (CFO) role. Interim CFO Betsy Rafael, who assumed the role in May amid concerns about the firm’s accounting practices, will be replaced by Janesh Moorjani at the end of the fiscal year.

Texas Pacific Land Corp. (TPL) shares logged Wednesday’s top performance in the S&P 500, adding 4.1%. Originally established to manage land related to long-defunct 19th-century railroad projects, the company has found numerous profitable uses for its acreage in the Permian Basin, the highest-producing oil region in the U.S. In addition to providing water and wastewater services for fracking operations, the firm has found new opportunities with bitcoin miners, wind farms, solar arrays, and carbon sequestration projects.

Shares of cosmetics retailer Ulta Beauty (ULTA) also advanced 4.1%. Analysts at investment bank DA Davidson said although Ulta is navigating difficult trends in the beauty industry, they expect competitive pressures to moderate. Davidson referenced a slowdown in sales growth in the Sephora “store within a store” business at Kohl’s (KSS) as well as signs of a flattening in market share gains by Amazon (AMZN) in the beauty category.

Internet infrastructure firm VeriSign (VRSN) announced that it has renewed its deal with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a nonprofit organization that coordinates the domain name system (DNS) and IP addresses on the web. According to analysts at Citi, the updated agreement did not include changes to provisions that regulate the prices VeriSign charges for domain names. However, the company has yet to renew its agreement with the Department of Commerce, which will reportedly have a greater impact on its pricing scheme.