Dell Technologies Inc. (NYSE:DELL)

Current Income Tax Expense

The current income tax expense exhibited considerable fluctuations over the periods analyzed. It started at a significant level of 806 million USD in early 2020, then notably decreased to 564 million USD in early 2021. Subsequently, it increased sharply to 1,202 million USD in early 2022, followed by a further rise to 1,520 million USD in early 2023. In the most recent two periods, there was a decrease to 783 million USD in early 2024 and a further decline to 680 million USD in early 2025. Overall, the current tax expense demonstrated a pattern of initial decline, a sharp mid-term increase, and a subsequent reduction in the last two periods.

Deferred Income Tax Expense

The deferred income tax expense showed negative values throughout the periods, indicating deferred tax benefits rather than expenses. The value was extremely negative in early 2020, at -6,339 million USD, representing a large deferred tax benefit. This benefit significantly reduced in magnitude to -399 million USD in early 2021 and further decreased to -221 million USD in early 2022. However, in early 2023, the deferred tax benefit increased in magnitude again to -717 million USD, and then substantially decreased to -91 million USD in early 2024. In early 2025, the deferred tax benefit increased again to -208 million USD. These fluctuations point to varying timing differences and tax adjustments affecting deferred tax calculations over time, with the largest benefit occurring in early 2020 and smaller, more volatile amounts in later periods.

Total Income Tax Expense (Benefit)

The total income tax expense, which combines current and deferred amounts, shifted notably from a substantial benefit to consistent expenses. In early 2020, a large income tax benefit amounting to -5,533 million USD was recorded, largely driven by the considerable deferred tax benefit. This swung to a small expense of 165 million USD in early 2021, followed by increasing expenses of 981 million USD in early 2022 and 803 million USD in early 2023. The expense slightly decreased to 692 million USD in early 2024 and further declined to 472 million USD in early 2025. This pattern indicates a normalization from a significant tax benefit to stable income tax expenses in recent years, reflecting changes in both current and deferred tax components.

The analysis of the tax-related financial metrics reveals several notable trends over the periods examined. The statutory U.S. federal tax rate remained consistently stable at 21% throughout all the years, indicating no legislative changes impacting the base statutory tax level.

State Income Taxes, Net of Federal Tax Benefit

This item shows considerable volatility, beginning with an extraordinarily high figure of 1194.6% in 2020, followed by a sharp decline to negative and small positive values in subsequent years, fluctuating narrowly around zero. This pattern may reflect unusual tax adjustments or one-time items in 2020, with normalization thereafter.

Tax Impact of Foreign Operations

The values fluctuate significantly, starting with a large negative impact of -2741.3% in 2020, then reversing to small positive and slightly negative percentages in following years, indicating varying foreign tax effects that possibly stem from differing international income and tax regimes over time.

Impact of Intangible Property Transfers

A very large positive spike of 123,367.9% in 2020 is noted, followed by a return to near zero and missing data in subsequent years. This suggests a major one-time event related to intangible property transfers in 2020, likely not recurring thereafter.

Change in Valuation Allowance

Values steadily remained positive but low, ranging from 0.3% to 1.1%, suggesting a modest but consistent increase in valuation allowances, which may indicate a cautious approach toward deferred tax asset realizability.

U.S. Tax Audit Settlement

A substantial 7,615.7% in 2020 dramatically reverses to -20.3% in 2021, followed by missing data. This indicates a significant settlement or adjustment in 2020 with corrective measures reflected in the next year.

Non-Deductible Transaction-Related Costs

Negative 700% in 2020 transitions into small positive values from 2021 to 2023, with a nearly zero figure by 2025, demonstrating a tapering influence of transaction-related costs on taxable income.

Stock-Based Compensation Expense

This metric begins with an elevated 5,873.2% in 2020 but shows a declining trend into negative territory from 2021 through 2025, indicating reduced impact or potentially different treatment or expensing of stock-based compensation over time.

U.S. R&D Tax Credits

There is a generally declining trend in the benefit from R&D tax credits, starting at 4,424.9% and moving towards lower negatives such as -4.6% in 2023 and -1.7% in 2024, which may reflect diminishing credit utilization or changing R&D expenditures relative to taxable income.

Lapse of U.S. Statutes of Limitations

This item appears only in 2025 as -8.5%, indicating recognition of tax effects from expired audit periods or similar adjustments in the most recent year.

Legal Entity Restructuring

Reported only in 2022 at -4.1%, pointing to a one-time restructuring effect in that year.

RSA Security Divestiture

Positive 7.8% appears in 2021 alone, signaling tax implications of the divestiture that year.

Class V Transaction Litigation Settlement

Reported only in 2023 with 5.8%, implying a one-time settlement affecting that year's taxes.

Other

This category fluctuates between negative and positive small percentages, reflecting miscellaneous items without a clear trend.

Effective Tax Rate

Displayed an exceptionally high 138,325% in 2020 due to abnormalities in various components, followed by a more normalized but rising pattern from 4.5% in 2021 to 24.9% in 2023, then decreasing again to 9.4% in 2025. This volatility aligns with the irregularities in other tax-related line items, suggesting significant one-time adjustments impacting reported effective tax rates.

The analysis of the financial data reveals several notable trends and shifts in key balance sheet items over the examined periods.

Deferred Revenue and Warranty Provisions

These liabilities generally increased from 2020 to 2023, peaking at 1959 million USD, followed by a decline in 2024 and 2025. This pattern may indicate a fluctuating backlog of customer obligations or warranty-related costs.

Credit Carryforwards

This asset category shows a consistent decline from 1951 million USD in 2020 to 554 million USD in 2024, with a slight recovery to 670 million USD in 2025, suggesting the gradual utilization of tax credits or a reduction in available credits over time.

Loss Carryforwards

Loss carryforwards exhibit variability, decreasing sharply in 2022 to 379 million USD before increasing steadily to 697 million USD by 2025, reflecting changes in accumulated losses eligible for future tax relief.

Operating and Compensation Related Accruals

This accrual category fluctuates moderately, peaking at 774 million USD in 2021 and gradually declining to 478 million USD by 2024, then slightly rising to 482 million USD in 2025, indicating adjustments in personnel and operational expense provisions.

Capitalized Research and Development

Data appears only from 2023 onward, with values rising from 263 million USD in 2023 to 302 million USD in 2024, followed by a slight decrease to 291 million USD in 2025. This reflects investment levels in proprietary development activities.

Operating Leases

The amounts reported in assets and liabilities decrease over the observable periods, with operating lease assets reported at approximately 239 million USD in 2020 and 238 million USD in 2021 but then omitted; corresponding liabilities are also reducing, which may reflect lease expirations or modifications.

Intangible Assets and Intangibles

Intangible assets increased from 2420 million USD in 2020 to 3060 million USD in 2021, but no further data is available. Conversely, the negative intangible asset figures (likely related to amortization or impairments) start appearing in 2022 at -673 million USD and decline in magnitude to -240 million USD by 2025, indicating amortization or write-downs over the latter periods.

Other Assets

Reported as positive values, "Other" assets peak at 494 million USD in 2021 and decline thereafter to 256 million USD by 2025. This suggests a reduction in miscellaneous asset categories.

Deferred Tax Assets and Valuation Allowance

Deferred tax assets rose from 7918 million USD in 2020 to a peak of 8562 million USD in 2021 before falling sharply to 3936 million USD in 2022. They then partially recover to approximately 4150 million USD by 2025. The valuation allowance contra account remains negative throughout, fluctuating between -1709 million USD and -1232 million USD, reflecting management’s ongoing assessment of probable future realization of these deferred tax assets.

Net Deferred Tax Assets (after Allowance)

The net deferred tax assets, after subtracting the valuation allowance, demonstrate a substantial decline from 6231 million USD in 2020 to 2513 million USD in 2022, before a gradual recovery to around 2800 million USD in 2025. This indicates heightened caution or reduced confidence in the realizability of deferred tax assets during the 2021-2022 period, followed by stabilization.

Leasing and Financing and Property and Equipment

Negative amounts under leasing and financing show a persistently negative balance around -369 million USD to -285 million USD, indicating consistent liabilities related to financing activities. Property and equipment net values become less negative over time, moving from -509 million USD in 2020 to -273 million USD in 2025, suggesting disposals, impairment, or reduced capital expenditures in recent years.

Deferred Tax Liabilities

These have increased in magnitude from -1293 million USD in 2020 to as much as -1870 million USD in 2022, followed by a decrease to -1191 million USD in 2025, indicating fluctuations in deferred tax obligations possibly tied to timing differences in recognizing income or expenses for tax purposes.

Net Deferred Tax Assets (Liabilities)

Overall net deferred tax assets, combining liabilities and assets, decline dramatically from 4938 million USD in 2020 to a low of 643 million USD in 2022, then recover to 1606 million USD in 2025. This pattern reflects significant shifts in the company’s tax positions during these years and an improving outlook post-2022.

The financial data exhibits several notable trends in both reported and adjusted figures over the six-year span.

Total Assets

Reported total assets show a decreasing trend from US$118,861 million in 2020 to US$79,746 million by 2025. Adjusted total assets follow a similar pattern, declining from US$113,923 million in 2020 to US$78,140 million in 2025. The consistency between reported and adjusted totals indicates that adjustments related to income tax do not significantly distort the asset base, and the overall reduction suggests asset divestitures, depreciation, or operational downsizing over the period.

Stockholders’ Equity (Deficit)

The reported equity fluctuates, starting from a deficit of US$-1,574 million in 2020, improving to a positive US$2,479 million in 2021, then reverting back to deficits thereafter, but with a decreasing magnitude of the deficit from -3,122 million in 2023 to -1,482 million in 2025. The adjusted equity shows a consistent deficit throughout the period, though it improves gradually from a larger negative figure of -6,512 million in 2020 to -3,088 million in 2025. This implies persistent underlying equity challenges, with tax adjustments exacerbating the deficit but a general trend toward mitigation over time.

Net Income Attributable

Reported net income attributable to the company experiences volatility. It starts at a relatively strong positive US$4,616 million in 2020, dips in 2021 to US$3,250 million, rises sharply in 2022 to US$5,563 million, decreases again in 2023, and recovers by 2025 to US$4,592 million. Adjusted net income follows a more muted trajectory, beginning with a loss of -US$1,723 million in 2020 but then showing a steady positive trend from 2021 onward, ending at US$4,384 million in 2025. The divergence between reported and adjusted figures in the early years suggests significant non-recurring or tax-related charges initially, which diminish over time, resulting in more aligned performance metrics towards the end of the period.

Overall, the company exhibits a contraction in its asset base over the years, ongoing challenges in maintaining positive equity, and volatile but improving profitability once adjustments are considered. The improved adjusted net income alongside a reducing equity deficit toward the later years may indicate improving operational performance and tax position. However, the persistent equity deficit suggests caution regarding long-term financial stability.

Net Profit Margin

The reported net profit margin demonstrates variability over the periods, beginning at 5.01% in early 2020 and declining to a low of 2.39% by early 2023. Subsequently, it shows a recovery trend, reaching 4.81% by early 2025. The adjusted net profit margin exhibits a similar pattern, starting negative at -1.87% in 2020, improving steadily to 5.28% in 2022, dipping to 1.69% in 2023, and then increasing again to 4.59% in 2025. This indicates that adjustments for income tax effects and deferred tax impact profitability metrics but the overall trend remains consistent, with a mid-period dip followed by recovery.

Total Asset Turnover

Both reported and adjusted total asset turnover ratios show a gradual improvement across the timeline. Reported ratios increase from 0.78 in 2020 to 1.20 in 2025, while adjusted ratios closely mirror this ascent, moving from 0.81 to 1.22. This trend reflects improving efficiency in the use of assets to generate sales, suggesting enhanced operational performance and better management of asset base over time.

Financial Leverage

Data on financial leverage is limited, with only a single reported figure available: 49.78 in 2021. No further data points exist to ascertain trends or analyze leverage adjustments, resulting in insufficient information to draw conclusions about the company's capital structure evolution or its impact on financial results.

Return on Equity (ROE)

Reported ROE is only available for 2021, showing a very high value of 131.1%, which appears unusually elevated and may be influenced by extraordinary items or specific accounting treatments in that period. Adjusted ROE values are missing, preventing a comparative assessment between reported and adjusted returns on equity.

Return on Assets (ROA)

Reported ROA follows a pattern similar to net profit margins, starting at 3.88% in 2020, declining to 2.63% in 2021, peaking at 6.0% in 2022, and then fluctuating in subsequent years with a rebound to 5.76% in 2025. Adjusted ROA, which accounts for tax-related adjustments, parallels this trend closely but starts at a negative -1.51% in 2020. It increases notably to 5.8% by 2022 and ends at 5.61% in 2025. The improvement in ROA metrics suggests increasing efficiency in asset utilization for generating profits after accounting for tax adjustments.

Overall Insights

The financial performance indicators reveal periods of fluctuation particularly in profitability margins and returns, with a general recovery and strengthening observed towards the latest period. Asset turnover ratios display a consistent upward trend, signifying operational improvements. Missing or limited data on leverage and ROE restricts a comprehensive analysis of capital structure impact. Adjusted metrics usually lag slightly behind reported figures but follow similar trajectories, indicating that tax and deferred tax adjustments affect the earnings measures systematically but do not dramatically alter the underlying performance trends.

Reported Net Income Attributable to Dell Technologies Inc.

The reported net income showed a significant decline from $4,616 million in early 2020 to $3,250 million in early 2021. This was followed by a strong recovery in 2022, reaching $5,563 million. However, the income dropped sharply in 2023 to $2,442 million, then gradually increased over the next two years to $3,211 million in 2024 and $4,592 million in 2025, approaching earlier peak levels.

Adjusted Net Income Attributable to Dell Technologies Inc.

The adjusted net income started with a negative value of -$1,723 million in 2020, indicating significant adjustments or unusual items negatively impacting income. It then improved substantially to $2,851 million in 2021 and continued rising to $5,342 million in 2022. A decline was observed again in 2023, where it dropped to $1,725 million, before rebounding in the following years to $3,120 million in 2024 and $4,384 million in 2025. Overall, the pattern mirrors the reported figures but with more pronounced volatility in 2020 and 2023.

Reported Net Profit Margin

The reported net profit margin followed a similar trend to net income: decreasing from 5.01% in 2020 to 3.45% in 2021, improving to 5.5% in 2022, falling again to 2.39% in 2023, and then recovering to 3.63% in 2024 and 4.81% in 2025. This indicates fluctuating profitability margins with notable dips in 2021 and 2023, corresponding to lower net income periods.

Adjusted Net Profit Margin

Adjusted net profit margin showed a negative value of -1.87% in 2020, reflecting the adjusted net income loss that year. It then improved to positive margins of 3.03% in 2021 and peaked at 5.28% in 2022. Like the reported margin, it decreased in 2023 to 1.69% but increased again to 3.53% in 2024 and 4.59% in 2025. This pattern indicates the beneficial effect of adjustments on reported profitability, especially notable in 2020 and 2023 where the adjusted margin was higher than the reported margin.

The data reveals a downward trend in both reported and adjusted total assets over the analyzed periods. Reported total assets decreased from approximately 118.9 billion USD in early 2020 to around 79.7 billion USD by early 2025. Similarly, adjusted total assets declined from about 113.9 billion USD to 78.1 billion USD during the same timeframe. This consistent reduction indicates a possible consolidation or asset disposal strategy over the years.

In contrast, total asset turnover ratios depict an improving efficiency in asset utilization. The reported total asset turnover increased from 0.78 in 2020 to 1.2 in 2025, showing a steady gain in how effectively assets generate revenue. Adjusted total asset turnover follows a similar upward trajectory, rising from 0.81 to 1.22 over the same periods. This suggests an enhancement in operational efficiency when evaluated on both reported and adjusted bases.

The divergence between the declining asset base and increasing turnover ratios highlights a favorable trend where the company appears to be generating more revenue per unit of asset over time. This could imply improvements in management effectiveness, asset allocation, or possibly a shift towards higher-margin activities requiring fewer assets.

Overall, the data indicates a strategic reduction in asset holdings paired with improved asset productivity, signifying potentially positive operational developments despite a shrinking asset base.

Analysis of the financial data reveals several notable trends over the observed periods, reflecting changes in asset size, equity position, and leverage.

Total Assets

The reported total assets show a general declining trend from US$118,861 million in January 2020 to US$79,746 million in January 2025. This represents an overall contraction in asset base of approximately 33%. Similarly, adjusted total assets also decreased steadily from US$113,923 million to US$78,140 million during the same period. The consistency between reported and adjusted assets suggests that the adjustments made for reported versus deferred income tax effects do not significantly alter the downward asset trend.

Stockholders’ Equity (Deficit)

The reported equity position exhibits volatility and remains negative throughout most periods except for January 2021 when it was positive at US$2,479 million. Initially, the reported equity deficit was -US$1,574 million in January 2020, worsening to -US$3,122 million by February 2023, then improving somewhat to -US$1,482 million by January 2025. Adjusted equity figures are consistently more negative, starting at -US$6,512 million and improving to -US$3,088 million over the five years. This persistent negative equity adjusted for deferred income taxes indicates ongoing challenges in equity strength, with some improvement in the latest years but still reflecting a deficit position overall.

Financial Leverage

Reported financial leverage data is only partially available with a single noted value of 49.78 ratio for the January 31, 2021 period, which is an extremely high leverage level, indicating significant use of debt relative to equity. The absence of additional leverage data does not allow for a full trend analysis; however, the reported negative equity levels combined with high leverage ratios suggest financial structure risks.

In summary, the company exhibits a clear reduction in asset base and consistently negative adjusted equity positions over the analyzed timeframe. While there are signs of marginal improvement towards the last reported year, the overall financial position signals elevated leverage risks and challenges in building positive equity. The adjustments for deferred income taxes reinforce these observations with a more pronounced equity deficit, underscoring caution regarding the company’s capital structure and risk profile.

Reported Net Income Attributable to Dell Technologies Inc.

The reported net income exhibits considerable volatility over the observed periods. Starting at 4,616 million US dollars in 2020, it decreases significantly to 3,250 million in 2021. Subsequently, a strong recovery is evident with net income rising sharply to 5,563 million in 2022. However, this increase is followed by a substantial decline to 2,442 million in 2023. The figure then rebounds again, reaching 3,211 million in 2024 and further increasing to 4,592 million in 2025. This pattern suggests fluctuating profitability with periods of marked improvement after setbacks.

Adjusted Net Income Attributable to Dell Technologies Inc.

The adjusted net income starts with a negative value of -1,723 million in 2020, indicating losses when adjustments are considered. There is a notable recovery in 2021 with a positive figure of 2,851 million, which continues to improve to 5,342 million in 2022. A marked decrease occurs in 2023 down to 1,725 million, followed by a recovery to 3,120 million in 2024 and 4,384 million in 2025. The adjusted net income follows a generally similar pattern to the reported net income but starts from a lower base and reflects the impact of adjustments on profitability.

Reported Total Stockholders' Equity (Deficit)

The reported stockholders' equity shows significant instability, oscillating between negative and positive values. It begins with a deficit of -1,574 million in 2020 but improves to a positive 2,479 million in 2021. It then reverts to a negative position with -1,685 million in 2022, worsening further to -3,122 million in 2023. Subsequent periods see moderate improvements, with deficits reducing to -2,404 million in 2024 and -1,482 million in 2025. This trend denotes ongoing challenges in sustaining positive equity, with some recovery toward the end of the period.

Adjusted Total Stockholders' Equity (Deficit)

The adjusted stockholders' equity presents a consistently negative position throughout the entire timeline. Starting at a substantial deficit of -6,512 million in 2020, the deficit reduces over time but remains large at -2,949 million in 2021 and -2,328 million in 2022. The deficit increases again to -4,482 million in 2023, then decreases to -3,836 million in 2024 and further to -3,088 million in 2025. This persistent negative adjusted equity indicates that when accounting for deferred income tax and other adjustments, the company faces continuing equity shortfalls, although the magnitude has generally improved compared to the beginning of the period.

Reported and Adjusted Return on Equity (ROE)

The reported ROE is only available for 2021, where it is exceptionally high at 131.1%, suggesting an unusual financial event or distortion. The absence of ROE data for other periods limits the ability to analyze trends in profitability relative to shareholders' equity. Adjusted ROE data is not provided, precluding analysis of this metric on an adjusted basis.

Overall Observations

The financial data indicates considerable volatility in both reported and adjusted net income figures, with notable recoveries interspersed with significant declines. The reported equity figures fluctuate between deficit and positive territory, reflecting challenges in maintaining consistent shareholder equity. The adjusted equity figures reveal persistent deficits, suggesting the impact of deferred taxes and other adjustments exacerbate financial pressures. The limited ROE data provided suggests high variability in returns on equity, although this cannot be conclusively assessed across the whole timeline.

Net Income Trends

The reported net income attributable to the company experienced notable fluctuations over the examined periods. Initially, it was robust at $4,616 million in early 2020, then declined substantially to $3,250 million in early 2021. This was followed by a significant rebound to $5,563 million in early 2022. A sharp decline occurred in early 2023 to $2,442 million, after which the figure increased steadily to $3,211 million in early 2024 and $4,592 million in early 2025.

Adjusted net income, reflecting income excluding certain annual reported and deferred income tax effects, showed a different trend. The figure was negative at -$1,723 million in early 2020, improving dramatically to $2,851 million in early 2021. It continued to rise to $5,342 million in early 2022, then sharply decreased to $1,725 million in early 2023. Subsequently, it recovered to $3,120 million in early 2024 and $4,384 million in early 2025. This suggests that adjustments for tax effects have a significant impact on net income presentation, especially visible in 2020 and 2023.

Total Assets

Reported total assets demonstrated a consistent downward trajectory from $118,861 million in early 2020 to $79,746 million in early 2025. The largest reduction appears between early 2021 and early 2022, where total assets dropped from over $123 billion to approximately $92.7 billion. The adjusted total assets exhibit a very similar declining trend, starting at $113,923 million in early 2020 and decreasing to $78,140 million in early 2025, thereby confirming the downward asset base trend after adjustment.

Return on Assets (ROA)

Reported ROA percentages fluctuate notably over the examined periods. Starting at 3.88% in early 2020, it decreased to 2.63% in early 2021 before rising sharply to 6% in early 2022. Subsequently, it declined again to 2.73% in early 2023, followed by a steady increase to 3.91% in early 2024 and 5.76% in early 2025.

Adjusted ROA, which factors out annual reported and deferred tax impacts, exhibits lower values than reported ROA initially, with a negative return of -1.51% in early 2020. However, it then improves to 2.42% in early 2021 and closely tracks reported ROA through early 2022 at 5.8%. The adjusted ROA decreases to 1.95% in early 2023, but steadily increases afterwards, reaching 3.87% in early 2024 and 5.61% in early 2025, mirroring the pattern of reported ROA with slightly lower percentages.

Overall Observations

The data indicates a cycle of volatility in profitability metrics, with net income and ROA both showing significant peaks and troughs over the period. Adjusted figures tend to present a more conservative measure, especially reflected in negative adjusted net income and ROA in early 2020. Asset values steadily decline across the years, which might suggest strategic divestitures, asset efficiency improvements, or other balance sheet optimizations. The correlation between net income trends and asset base reductions could imply enhanced asset utilization in some years but also points to underlying volatility in earnings quality due to tax-related adjustments.