Dell vs Meta: Revenue, Profit and Business Model
Dell reported $113.5B of revenue in FY2026 and $5.9B of net income. Meta reported $201B of revenue in FY2025 and $60.5B of net income.
Latest financial snapshot
Financial summary
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.
Meta
Meta's revenue grew from $116.609B in 2022 to $200.966B in 2025, and net income rose from $23.2B to $60.458B. FY2025 income from operations was $83.276B. In 2026 the story is spending: Q2 2026 costs rose 55% to $42.03B, the operating margin fell to 31% from 43%, and quarterly capex of $31.08B left free cash flow at $784M. Meta had $90.26B of cash and marketable securities and $83.66B of long-term debt at June 30, 2026. It expects 2026 total expenses of $165-169B and still expects 2026 operating income to exceed 2025.
Revenue and profit by year
Dell
| Year | Revenue | Net income | Margin | Growth | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2026 | $113.5B | $5.9B | 5.2% | +18.8% | Source |
| FY2025 | $95.6B | $4.6B | 4.8% | +8.1% | Source |
| FY2024 | $88.4B | $3.4B | 3.8% | -13.6% | Source |
| FY2023 | $102.3B | $2.4B | 2.4% | +1.1% | Source |
| FY2022 | $101.2B | $5.6B | 5.5% | — | Source |
Meta
| Year | Revenue | Net income | Margin | Growth | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | $201B | $60.5B | 30.1% | +22.2% | Source |
| FY2024 | $164.5B | $62.4B | 37.9% | +21.9% | Source |
| FY2023 | $134.9B | $39.1B | 29.0% | +15.7% | Source |
| FY2022 | $116.6B | $23.2B | 19.9% | -1.1% | Source |
| FY2021 | $117.9B | $39.4B | 33.4% | +37.2% | Source |
| FY2020 | $86B | $29.1B | 33.9% | +21.6% | Source |
| FY2019 | $70.7B | $18.5B | 26.1% | +26.6% | Source |
| FY2018 | $55.8B | $22.1B | 39.6% | +37.4% | Source |
| FY2017 | $40.7B | $15.9B | 39.2% | +47.1% | Source |
| FY2016 | $27.6B | $10.2B | 37.0% | — | Source |
Where the revenue comes from
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.
Meta
- Advertising
~97.6% (FY2025)
Ads across Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, Threads and WhatsApp; $196.175B in FY2025.
- Other revenue and Reality Labs
~2.4% (FY2025)
WhatsApp Business messaging, Meta Verified subscriptions, Quest headsets and Ray-Ban Meta glasses.
Business model and strategy
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.
Meta
How it makes money
Meta makes money by selling ads. Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp and Threads are free to use, and advertisers pay to reach people in feeds, Stories, Reels and click-to-message formats. Advertising produced $196.175B of Meta's $200.966B FY2025 revenue, about 97.6%. Q2 2026 growth came from 14% more ad impressions and a 12% higher average price per ad.
Growth strategy
Meta's growth plan runs through AI. Better ranking and ad-delivery models raise engagement on Reels and feeds and lift ad prices, which drove the 28% revenue growth in Q2 2026. Meta Superintelligence Labs, led by former Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang, released the first Muse Spark model in April 2026, followed by a paid API and the Muse consumer AI agent in September 2026.
Competitive advantage
Meta's moat is distribution plus data. Its apps reach 3.60 billion people every day, so new products such as Threads, Meta AI and Muse can launch to a huge audience at once. Advertisers stay because Meta's AI ad tools such as Advantage+ convert across that audience at a scale only Google matches. Meta also owns its compute, custom MTIA chips and frontier models, which reduces its dependence on outside AI suppliers.
Questions about Dell vs Meta
Which company has higher revenue — Dell Technologies Inc. or Meta Platforms, Inc.?
Dell Technologies Inc. reported $113.5B (FY2026), while Meta Platforms, Inc. reported $201.0B (FY2025). By last reported revenue, Meta Platforms, Inc. 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 Dell Technologies Inc. vs Meta Platforms, Inc.?
Dell Technologies Inc.'s market capitalisation stands at $360.0B, while Meta Platforms, Inc.'s is $1.90T. Meta Platforms, Inc. carries the higher market valuation, reflecting investors' expectations of its future earnings power relative to Dell Technologies Inc..
Which is more financially efficient — Dell Technologies Inc. or Meta Platforms, Inc.?
Dell Technologies Inc. generates $1.17M / employee in revenue per employee, while Meta Platforms, Inc. generates $2.66M / employee. Meta Platforms, Inc. 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 Dell Technologies Inc. and Meta Platforms, Inc. make money?
Dell Technologies Inc. and Meta Platforms, Inc. generate revenue in fundamentally different ways. Dell Technologies Inc.: Dell makes money by selling hardware plus attached services and financing. Meta Platforms, Inc.: Meta makes money by selling ads.
Which company is valued higher relative to revenue — Dell Technologies Inc. or Meta Platforms, Inc.?
On a price-to-sales (P/S) basis, Dell Technologies Inc. trades at 3.2x P/S and Meta Platforms, Inc. at 9.5x P/S. Meta Platforms, Inc. commands a higher revenue multiple, typically indicating that investors expect faster growth or higher future margins compared to Dell Technologies Inc.. A higher multiple is not inherently better — it may also signal that the stock is priced for perfection.
Is Dell Technologies Inc. bigger than Meta Platforms, Inc.?
By last reported revenue, Meta Platforms, Inc. ($201.0B (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 Dell vs Meta overview