BP vs Dell: Revenue, Profit and Business Model
BP reported $189.3B of revenue in FY2025 and $55M of net income. Dell reported $113.5B of revenue in FY2026 and $5.9B of net income.
Latest financial snapshot
Financial summary
BP
BP's 2025 revenue was $189.3 billion, nearly flat on 2024's $189.2 billion and below 2023's $210.1 billion. Underlying replacement-cost profit, the measure BP and analysts use to strip out inventory effects and one-off items, fell to $7.5 billion from $8.9 billion in 2024 as oil prices weakened, and profit attributable to shareholders was just $55 million after fourth-quarter charges. Operating cash flow was $24.5 billion and net debt ended the year at $22.2 billion. In February 2026 the board suspended buybacks so surplus cash could go to the balance sheet. Higher oil and gas prices linked to the conflict involving Iran, plus strong trading, lifted underlying replacement-cost profit to $3.2 billion in Q1 2026 and $5.7 billion in Q2 2026. With the Q2 results BP raised its quarterly dividend 4% to 8.66 cents per share and guided to $13.5-14 billion of capital spending for 2026.
Dell
Dell's fiscal year ends in late January or early February. Revenue fell from $102.3 billion in fiscal 2023 to $88.4 billion in fiscal 2024 as post-pandemic PC demand faded, then recovered to $95.6 billion in fiscal 2025 and a record $113.5 billion in fiscal 2026, when net income reached $5.94 billion, operating cash flow topped $11 billion and $7.5 billion was returned to shareholders. Fiscal 2027 has accelerated: Q1 revenue was $43.8 billion (up 88%) and Q2 revenue was $47.0 billion (up 58%), with Q2 diluted EPS of $6.34. In September 2026 Dell raised full-year fiscal 2027 guidance to about $192 billion in revenue and $25.50 in non-GAAP EPS. The balance sheet still carries debt from the 2016 EMC deal, though leverage has fallen through the VMware spin-off and cash generation.
Revenue and profit by year
BP
| Year | Revenue | Net income | Margin | Growth | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | $189.3B | $55M | 0.0% | +0.1% | Source |
| FY2024 | $189.2B | $381M | 0.2% | -10.0% | Source |
| FY2023 | $210.1B | $15.2B | 7.3% | — | Source |
Where the revenue comes from
BP
- Upstream oil and gas production
Not formally reported
Sales of crude oil, natural gas and LNG from BP-operated and partner fields in the Gulf of America, North Sea, Brazil, Middle East, Azerbaijan, Trinidad, Egypt and US onshore basins. Reported as the Upstream segment from July 1, 2026.
- Refining and fuels marketing
Not formally reported
Refined products such as gasoline, diesel and jet fuel sold wholesale and through about 21,000 BP, Amoco, ARCO and Aral retail sites. This is where most of BP's $189.3B of 2025 sales revenue is booked, because it includes resold crude and products.
- Convenience, lubricants and EV charging
Not formally reported
Higher-margin non-fuel income from convenience stores (ampm, Thorntons, TravelCenters of America, M&S Food in the UK), Castrol lubricants (BP's share falls to 35% once the Stonepeak sale closes) and bp pulse charging.
- Supply, trading and shipping
Not formally reported
Physical and financial trading of crude, products, gas, LNG and power that optimises BP's own flows and earns trading margins; strong trading was a major driver of the $5.7B Q2 2026 underlying profit.
- Low-carbon energy
Not formally reported
Smaller revenue from renewable natural gas (Archaea Energy), biofuels, and BP's 50% share of offshore wind joint venture JERA Nex bp.
Dell
- Client SolutionsMajor
Revenue from commercial and consumer PCs, workstations, peripherals, and related support.
- Infrastructure SolutionsMajor
Revenue from servers, storage, networking, AI infrastructure, and data-center systems.
- Services, Support, and Financing
Supporting
Revenue from warranties, support contracts, deployment, managed services, and financing tied to hardware and infrastructure sales.
Business model and strategy
BP
How it makes money
BP earns money at each stage of the oil and gas chain. Upstream, it finds and produces crude oil and natural gas in the Gulf of America (Gulf of Mexico), the North Sea, Brazil, Iraq, Azerbaijan, Oman, Trinidad, Egypt and US onshore basins; output averaged 2.3 million barrels of oil equivalent per day in Q1 2026 and 2.2 million in Q2 2026.
Growth strategy
BP's current strategy dates from its February 2025 reset, which raised upstream oil and gas investment to about $10 billion a year, cut planned spending on transition businesses to $1.5-2 billion a year, and set targets of $20 billion of divestments and $14-18 billion of net debt by 2027.
Competitive advantage
BP's edge rests on three things that are hard to copy. The first is deepwater know-how and infrastructure, including five operated production hubs in the Gulf of America and a growing position offshore Brazil. The second is one of the industry's largest supply, trading and shipping businesses, which turned volatile oil and gas prices into profit in Q2 2026.
Dell
How it makes money
Dell makes money by selling hardware plus attached services and financing. The Infrastructure Solutions Group sells AI-optimized servers built around Nvidia (and some AMD) accelerators, traditional PowerEdge servers, networking and storage to enterprises, cloud service providers and governments; in Q2 fiscal 2027 ISG produced $31.8 billion of revenue and $4.8 billion of operating income.
Growth strategy
Dell's growth strategy has three parts. First, win AI infrastructure share by shipping GPU-dense, liquid-cooled rack systems (PowerEdge XE servers with Nvidia Blackwell-generation GPUs) to neoclouds, sovereign AI programs and large enterprises, packaged as the Dell AI Factory.
Competitive advantage
Dell's edge is breadth and scale in enterprise relationships. It can sell a customer everything from 10,000 laptops to a liquid-cooled GPU cluster with storage, networking, deployment and financing under one contract, and support it worldwide.
Questions about BP vs Dell
Which company has higher revenue — BP plc or Dell Technologies Inc.?
BP plc reported $189.3B (FY2025), while Dell Technologies Inc. reported $113.5B (FY2026). By last reported revenue, BP plc is the larger business, with Dell Technologies Inc. reporting a smaller revenue base. Note: these are from different fiscal years and are not a direct like-for-like comparison.
What is the market cap of BP plc vs Dell Technologies Inc.?
BP plc's market capitalisation stands at $112.2B, while Dell Technologies Inc.'s is $360.0B. Dell Technologies Inc. carries the higher market valuation, reflecting investors' expectations of its future earnings power relative to BP plc.
Which is more financially efficient — BP plc or Dell Technologies Inc.?
BP plc generates $2.02M / employee in revenue per employee, while Dell Technologies Inc. generates $1.17M / employee. BP plc shows higher revenue efficiency per headcount, though this reflects business model differences — capital-light software companies routinely outperform labour-intensive manufacturers on this metric.
How do BP plc and Dell Technologies Inc. make money?
BP plc and Dell Technologies Inc. generate revenue in fundamentally different ways. BP plc: BP earns money at each stage of the oil and gas chain. Dell Technologies Inc.: Dell makes money by selling hardware plus attached services and financing.
Which company is valued higher relative to revenue — BP plc or Dell Technologies Inc.?
On a price-to-sales (P/S) basis, BP plc trades at 0.6x P/S and Dell Technologies Inc. at 3.2x P/S. Dell Technologies Inc. commands a higher revenue multiple, typically indicating that investors expect faster growth or higher future margins compared to BP plc. A higher multiple is not inherently better — it may also signal that the stock is priced for perfection.
Is BP plc bigger than Dell Technologies Inc.?
By last reported revenue, BP plc ($189.3B (FY2025)) is the larger company compared to Dell Technologies Inc. ($113.5B (FY2026)). Revenue scale is one dimension of size — market capitalisation, employee count, and geographic reach are also relevant depending on the context.
Figures come from each company's filings and the sources linked beside them. Amounts reported in another currency are shown in US dollars at an approximate rate and marked with ~. Back to the BP vs Dell overview