Dell is bullish about the next three months

The company was already on a winning streak after sales figures last month showed that it had managed to overtake its rival, Hewlett-Packard, to become the world's number one personal computer maker.

Dell said sales were up 18% to $9.5bn (�5.9bn) during the three months to the beginning of May.

And net profit rose to $598m from $457m a year earlier.

The company said it was managing to increase shipments at a time when its competitors were seeing a decline.

New products

In a nod to the price cuts that have helped Dell to win market share the chairman and chief executive Michael Dell said in a statement: "The words and actions of customers are clear.

"Dell's unique ability is innovating, integrating and delivering technology with the best possible value, and our execution in those areas has never been better."

The company was also positive about the future, it predicted that shipments of its computers would rise 25% in the second quarter of the year compared with the same period in 2002.

Earlier this month the company asked shareholders to agree to drop the word "computer" from the name to reflect the fact that it no longer sold only PCs.