Dell Technologies owes a big "thank you" to SpaceX and Super Micro Computer. They got Wall Street to say some really nice things about Dell.
And all those positives push the stock up 6% to $489.17 on Wednesday, putting it on pace for best daily percentage increase since Sept. 11, according to Dow Jones Market Data. Shares have advanced more than 289% this year.
SpaceX got the ball rolling Tuesday afternoon in its earnings call when CEO Elon Musk talked about increasing the rocket and AI company's data-center capacity by a lot -- from 10 gigawatts to as many as 20 gigawatts next year -- and faster than its competitors.
Then, Super Micro, which assembles servers and data-center systems, jumped in on Wednesday with a crazy good update to its preliminary first-quarter revenue forecast -- up to 27% from its previous estimate, plus bigger a gross-profit margin.
For analysts at Melius Research, Mizuho, and Bank of America, SpaceX and Super Micro should supercharge Dell stock, too. Both SpaceX and Super Micro were soaring in afternoon trading -- 8% and 10%, respectively.
If Musk delivers 10 more gigawatts, "this figure is so good for Nvidia and Dell, its scary," wrote Melius' Ben Reitzes.
Even if SpaceX can add only 6 more gigawatts of capacity, Reitzes said, Dell "should be a huge source" for the rocket company's AI servers and CPU racks. And Nvidia would be a big revenue bump for its chips, obviously.
And for Reitzes, the most telling number for Dell out of Super Micro's new outlook is the higher gross-profit margin. AI servers have historically diluted margins because a few hyperscalers purchase at scale and they negotiate hard on prices.
Super Micro's bigger margin -- if it comes in -- signals that demand is coming from a larger set of buyers who are short on capacity and willing to pay for speed because they can get attractive pricing.
"This report could be more bullish for DELL, which sells into the same buyer base with a larger enterprise footprint," he wrote.
"As more customers compete for the same capacity, any single buyer pausing becomes less of a risk to the AI story, and the suppliers serving that broad base gain pricing power," Reitzes added.
Mizuho's Vijay Rakesh and Bank of America's Ruplu Bhattacharya zeroed in on Super Micro.
Bhattacharya called the updated forecast "as positive" for Dell and "another data point showing continued strong demand."
Wrote Rakesh: "...a positive readthrough to DELL (Outperform, $650PT) with its strong balance sheet, order book, and five-quarter pipeline."
Still, Dell isn't in everyone's good graces. Last week, Barclays analyst Tim Long lowered his rating to Equal Weight from Overweight. He has serious questions about what's driving the company's growth.
That's finance. Up, down. Down, up. Today, for Dell, it's up.