What Caused Dell's Stock to Drop in Premarket Trading Today?
Written by Emily J. Thompson, Senior Investment Analyst
Updated: Nov 17 2025
0mins
Source: Coinmarketcap
Dell's Stock Decline: Dell Technologies Inc. saw a significant drop of over 5% in premarket trading on November 17, 2025, following a downgrade from Morgan Stanley, which lowered its rating from Overweight to Underweight and cut the price target from $144 to $110 due to concerns over AI server mix and rising component costs.
Impact of Rising Costs: Morgan Stanley analyst Erik Woodring highlighted that surging memory costs, particularly in DRAM and NAND, are expected to negatively impact Dell's profitability, leading to a projected 12% hit to earnings per share and a reduction in gross and operating margin estimates by 150-220 basis points for fiscal year 2027.
Recent Stock Performance: Despite the downgrade, Dell has shown resilience with year-to-date returns of 18.18% and a one-year return of 1.31%. However, the stock has faced a 6.26% decline over the past week, trading at $125.01 in premarket, down from a previous close of $133.94.
Market Outlook: Morgan Stanley's bearish outlook underscores the challenges Dell faces in the near term due to component cost inflation, which threatens to pressure margins and overall valuation, even as the stock has a 52-week range of $66.25 to $168.08 and an average analyst price target suggesting potential upside.
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Analyst Views on AI
Wall Street analysts forecast AI stock price to rise
13 Analyst Rating
4 Buy
6 Hold
3 Sell
Hold
Current: 10.220
Low
18.00
Averages
30.45
High
50.00
Current: 10.220
Low
18.00
Averages
30.45
High
50.00
About AI
C3.ai, Inc. is an enterprise artificial intelligence (AI) application software company. The Company has built a solution that enables its customers to rapidly develop, deploy, and operate enterprise AI applications. It offers families of software solutions, which it collectively refers to as its C3 AI software: The C3 AI Platform, C3 AI Applications, and C3 Generative AI. The C3 AI Platform, its core technology, is a comprehensive, end-to-end application development and runtime environment that is designed to allow its customers to rapidly design, develop, and deploy Enterprise AI applications of any type. Its C3 AI Applications, built using the C3 AI Platform, is a portfolio of pre-built, extensible, industry-specific, and application-specific software-as-a-service offerings (SaaS) Enterprise AI applications that can be rapidly installed and deployed. Its C3 Generative AI combines the utility of large language models, generative AI, reinforcement learning, natural language processing.
About the author
Emily J. Thompson
Emily J. Thompson, a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) with 12 years in investment research, graduated with honors from the Wharton School. Specializing in industrial and technology stocks, she provides in-depth analysis for Intellectia’s earnings and market brief reports.
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- Increased Losses: The company posted a loss per share of $0.40, exceeding the market expectation of $0.30, and continues to face financial pressures, highlighting serious challenges to its profitability.
- Deteriorating Competitive Landscape: Major software firms like Microsoft, Salesforce, and ServiceNow are undermining C3.ai's market position by embedding AI capabilities into existing products, significantly reducing its appeal among enterprise customers.
- Management Changes: Founder Thomas Siebel has returned as CEO, and while investors hope his leadership can revive sales momentum, C3.ai still needs to demonstrate its ability to grow consistently in a highly competitive market.
See More
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- Earnings Miss: The company posted a loss of $0.40 per share, exceeding the market's expectation of $0.30, and guided for continued pressure, suggesting a concerning outlook for its financial health that may impact stock performance.
- Intensifying Competition: Major players like Microsoft, Salesforce, and ServiceNow are rapidly capturing market share from C3.ai by embedding AI into existing products, undermining C3.ai's market positioning and increasing survival pressures.
- Management Changes: Founder Thomas Siebel has returned as CEO, and while investors hope his return will boost sales, C3.ai still needs to demonstrate its ability to achieve sustainable growth in a highly competitive market.
See More
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- Deteriorating Financials: The company's preliminary fourth-quarter results revealed revenue of $51.6 million for the period ending April 30, a significant drop from $108.7 million a year ago, highlighting severe challenges in a competitive landscape.
- Leadership Changes: Founder and former CEO Thomas Siebel stepped down last year due to health issues, and his successor Stephen Ehikian has not improved performance; Siebel's return as CEO on May 8 raises market hopes for a turnaround.
- Profitability Risks: Although C3.ai's market cap is around $1.4 billion and its stock appears cheap, the company remains unprofitable, facing immense pressure to demonstrate product demand in a fiercely competitive AI market.
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- Impact of Leadership Change: The departure of founder and CEO Thomas Siebel due to health issues led to an unexpected revenue collapse, resulting in lost or delayed lucrative deals and negatively affecting the company's market position.
- Severe Financial Condition: C3.ai reported total revenue of $250.3 million for fiscal 2026, a 35% decline year-over-year, with a net loss of $498 million, nearly a 70% increase from the previous year, putting the company under financial strain and necessitating a swift return to profitability to avoid further losses.
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