Barclays downgrades Dell (DELL) to Equal Weight, cuts price target to $574 from $603 on no 'meaningful AI inflection yet' (Oct 14)
What happened
Barclays analyst Tim Long downgraded Dell Technologies, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, and NetApp to Equal Weight from Overweight on Oct 14, cutting Dell's price target to $574 from $603 and HPE's to $77 from $83 while holding NetApp's at $219. Long said valuations have run up, commodity (memory) costs have flattered revenue, and 'we don't see a meaningful AI inflection yet' in enterprise spending. Dell shares fell about 2.5-3% in premarket trading to around $558, with HPE down ~4% and NetApp down ~3.6%.
Why it matters & what’s next are part of Pro, along with the audio summary.
Start your free 14-day trialWho’s affected
- DELL (downgraded, PT cut $603 to $574, shares -2.5-3% premarket)
- HPE (downgraded, PT cut $83 to $77, shares ~-4% premarket)
- NTAP (downgraded, PT held at $219, shares ~-3.6% premarket)
- CSCO, FFIV, HPQ (ratings maintained by Barclays — Equal Weight, Equal Weight, Underweight); broader enterprise-hardware and AI-infrastructure sentiment