The downturn in the economy around the world had made it difficult for technology companies to hit their profit projections and has forced more than one company into the red. Major computer makers like Dell have struggled with profits and have been forced to make serious cutbacks to make improvements.  Only a handful, like competitor HP, have thrived.

Dell announced its fiscal Q3 financial results and shows some growth compared to Q2. Dell says that over all its revenue was down slightly as global IT spending continues to be soft. Despite the overall reduction in revenue, Dell says that its consumer business performance has improved and that its rigorous cost-cutting plan has resulted in 11% year-over-year operating expense reduction.

Earnings per share in fiscal Q3 increased by 9% with revenue per share amounting to 37 cents with total revenue of $15.2 billion. That revenue figure represents a 3% drop despite a unit shipment growth rate of 3%. Dell said last quarter when revenue dropped despite increased shipments that the phenomenon was due to stiff price competition among other vendors globally.

Dell CEO Michael Dell said in a statement, "Our business model adapts quickly to economic changes, even the kind of significant challenge we saw in the third quarter,” said Michael Dell, chairman and CEO. “We increased profitability with an improved mix of products and services – more than a third of our revenue and profit now comes from servers, storage, services and software and peripherals – and benefited from initiatives to improve our competiveness, including tight cost controls. During previous periods of economic challenge, Dell led in providing customers the technology they want and the value they need, and we’re doing it again. We're simplifying IT, reducing costs, and maximizing productivity for customers.”

Dell will continue to focus on five areas of growth including notebooks, enterprise, global consumer, and small and medium business in emerging countries. Overall operating income improved 22% over the quarter to $1 billion, or 6.7% of total revenue and Dell reports gross margins of 18.8%. Dell reports that 48% of its revenue for the quarter comes from outside of America.

Revenue in BRIC countries including Brazil, Russia, India, and China increased 20% and shipments increased 43%, accounting for 9% of Dell's global revenue. Dell's global consumer business increased revenue by 10% over last year on a 32% increase in shipments.

The global consumer growth resulted in an operating income of $112 million, or 4% of Dell's overall revenue making fiscal Q3 the highest profit quarter for the global consumer business in 13 quarters. Dell attributes the growth to a 24% reduction in operating expenses along with lower component costs.

Dell says the outlook for global IT end-user demand will continue to be challenging. To address this challenge Dell says it will continue to focus on lowering costs and improving product mix. It also expects to continue to incur costs as it realigns its business to reduce headcount in certain areas and invest in infrastructure, growth, and acquisitions.

Part of Dell's aggressive cost reduction plan has included significant layoffs, closing plants, and selling off the closed plants.