Stock Markets April 16, 2026 10:05 AM

BofA Reaffirms Buy on Dell, Citing Durable AI Server Demand and Upside to 2026 Targets

Bank of America flags strong AI infrastructure spending and positions Dell as a leading beneficiary with sizable revenue upside in 2026

By Sofia Navarro DELL
BofA Reaffirms Buy on Dell, Citing Durable AI Server Demand and Upside to 2026 Targets
DELL

Bank of America reiterated a bullish view on Dell, arguing the PC and server maker is well placed to capture an ongoing increase in AI infrastructure spending. Analyst Wamsi Mohan projects 28% unit growth for AI servers in 2026 and a 50% rise in average selling prices, producing a $495 billion AI server market next year. BofA estimates Dell will capture 12% of that market, implying $60 billion in AI server revenues for 2026 and highlighting past outperformance versus initial guidance.

Key Points

  • BofA models AI server unit growth of 28% year-on-year in 2026 and a 50% rise in average selling prices, producing a $495 billion AI server market for 2026.
  • The bank estimates Dell will capture 12% of total AI server revenue in 2026, implying $60 billion in AI server sales, above Dell's own $50 billion guidance.
  • Sectors impacted include enterprise IT spending, data center hardware providers, and component suppliers such as GPU and memory manufacturers.

Bank of America has kept a positive recommendation on Dell, telling investors the company is positioned to benefit meaningfully from continued investment in AI infrastructure.

Analyst Wamsi Mohan told clients that AI server demand remains "intact and growing in 2026 despite recent memory inflation." Mohan pointed to continued enterprise adoption, memory costs that are still a contained portion of the total bill of materials, and strong guidance from original equipment manufacturers as supporting factors behind the bank's outlook.

BofA's forecast models show AI server unit volumes rising 28% year-on-year in 2026, while average selling prices are expected to climb by 50%. Those assumptions produce a projected AI server revenue market of $495 billion for 2026, a figure the bank notes is more than double the size recorded last year.

Within that market, BofA estimates Dell will account for 12% of total AI server revenue in 2026, an increase of 200 basis points from the prior year. That share corresponds to a Dell AI server revenue estimate of $60 billion for 2026 - above the company's own $50 billion guidance for the same period. The bank cites Dell's history of outperformance as evidence of upside, noting the company generated $25 billion of AI server revenue last year against an initial guide of $15 billion.

BofA also highlights Dell's higher-than-average average selling prices, which the bank says are running 82% above the industry mean. The bank attributes those premium ASPs to Dell's greater mix of Nvidia and AMD GPUs and its stronger exposure to Tier 2 cloud customers.

Looking beyond 2026, the bank projects the AI server industry will expand at a 26% compound annual growth rate through 2030. BofA attributes that long-term expansion to increasing GPU complexity and rising attach rates for networking and storage components.

The report underscores areas the analyst sees as drivers of the market: enterprise adoption of AI workloads, OEM guidance that supports demand, and component dynamics where memory cost, while recently elevated, does not dominate total system cost.

The research note also references investment tools that evaluate Dell against a broad set of companies using a wide range of financial metrics. These tools are described as analyzing fundamentals, momentum, and valuation to identify attractive risk-reward profiles across the market.


Bottom line: BofA remains constructive on Dell based on its view of sustained AI server demand, favorable component economics as a share of system cost, Dell's premium ASPs and historical tendency to outpace guidance, leading the bank to forecast meaningful revenue upside for the company in 2026.

Risks

  • Memory price inflation - while BofA describes memory costs as a contained share of bill of materials, recent memory inflation is acknowledged and could affect system economics and demand.
  • Dependence on OEM guidance and enterprise adoption - changes in OEM forecasts or a slowdown in enterprise AI deployments could reduce demand for AI servers.
  • Component attach-rate assumptions - BofA's longer-term 26% CAGR to 2030 depends on accelerating GPU complexity and higher networking and storage attach rates, which may not materialize as projected.

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