Moneywise and Yahoo Finance LLC may earn commission or revenue through links in the content below.
Michael Dell got $35.8 billion richer in a single day (1).
On Friday, May 29, shares of Dell Technologies (NYSE:DELL) jumped as much as 32% — the biggest single-day move in the company’s history, eclipsing the 31.6% record it set in March 2024. The pop added $35.8 billion to founder Michael Dell’s fortune, pushing his net worth to $245.9 billion, sending him soaring past Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg into the No. 6 spot on the global wealth rankings.
Top Picks
Dell reported far better than expected earnings on May 28, which sent its stock higher. Notably, the company’s share price has also more than tripled (up 255%) since Trump’s first endorsement on Feb. 19, when he urged Americans to “buy a Dell.” Dell stock closed at $422.05 on June 4 and is one of the best-performing large-cap technology stocks of the year (2).
But the story doesn’t end with Dell’s exceptional balance sheet — it also veers into the White House.
A federal ethics disclosure published this month shows that an account in President Donald Trump’s name bought up to $5.1 million worth of Dell stock in the first quarter. Trump publicly urged Americans to “buy a Dell” on two separate occasions, before Dell secured a Pentagon deal worth $9.7 billion (3).
Dell stock jumps 32% as AI server revenue soars 757%
Dell reported earnings after the bell, and the numbers blew past what Wall Street expected. Revenue hit $43.8 billion for the quarter, up 88% from a year earlier — analysts had penciled in about $35.7 billion. Adjusted earnings came in at $4.86 a share, against estimates closer to $2.96 (4).
Like many things this year, the driver was artificial intelligence.
Dell’s AI-optimized server revenue hit $16.1 billion in the quarter, up 757% from a year earlier, and the company said it booked $24.4 billion in AI orders during the period. Management raised its full-year AI server revenue target to $60 billion and lifted its overall revenue outlook to $167 billion.
Analysts were left flabbergasted. Morgan Stanley analyst Erik Woodring wrote that his team “got this one wrong” and put its price target under review, calling it “one of the most impressive quarters we’ve seen in our time covering Hardware (5).”
The earnings beat capped a remarkable month for Dell. On May 27, the U.S. Department of War awarded the company a $9.7 billion, five-year contract to consolidate Microsoft software licenses across the military, the intelligence community and the Coast Guard — a deal officials said could save roughly $422 million a year initially (6).
Read More: Here’s the average income of Americans by age in 2026. Are you falling behind?
Trump bought Dell stock before publicly telling Americans to buy it
In May, the Office of Government Ethics released two Form 278-T filings covering Trump’s personal financial activity from January through March. The documents — more than 100 pages — list more than 3,700 individual stock transactions, including more than 30 purchases of $1 million or more. The aggregate value falls in a broad band between roughly $220 million and $750 million (3).
Dell was among them. According to the disclosure, Trump’s account bought between $1 million and $5 million of Dell stock, plus smaller purchases, for a maximum of about $5.1 million across the quarter.
Trump endorsed Dell twice. He first told a crowd in Rome, Georgia, on Feb. 19 to “go out and buy a Dell computer.” Then, at a White House Mother’s Day event on May 8, he said it again: “Go out and buy a Dell. They’re great.” The stock hit an all-time high that day, up about 14% intraday (7).
The same filings show purchases of Palantir, Nvidia, Micron and Intel — companies Trump went on to praise publicly or whose fortunes ran through his administration’s policy decisions. He bought Palantir at least 10 times, then talked it up on Truth Social. He bought Nvidia shortly before federal authorities cleared certain chip sales to China (3).
The White House and the Trump Organization say the president does not direct the trades, and that they run through “automated investment processes.” Eric Trump has said the family’s assets sit in a blind trust, and that any suggestion individual stocks are bought or sold “at the discretion of any member of the Trump family, would be a lie and blatantly false.” The filings themselves do not specify who placed the trades (7).
No charges have been filed, and no insider trading has been proven. But the optics have drawn sharp reactions — CNBC’s Jim Cramer went silent on air in May for roughly 10 seconds when a co-host noted Trump had been trading Intel. Social media called it insider trading.
Meanwhile, Trump has repeatedly accused Nancy Pelosi of profiting from inside information, yet his quarter of trading dwarfs her three-year volume, and he was fined $200 for disclosing some trades late.
There’s also the Dell family money. As Moneywise previously reported, founder Michael Dell and his wife, Susan, pledged $6.25 billion to “Trump Accounts,” the children’s investment program in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act — the largest private commitment to the president’s signature initiative.
The White House has not said whether the December gift and the later endorsements were connected.
Should you buy Dell stock now?
The rally isn’t hollow even if the timing could be suspect. Dell entered fiscal 2027 with a record $43 billion AI server backlog after booking more than $64 billion in AI orders last year (4). Mizuho, Bank of America and Citigroup all raised their price targets in April and early May — before the May 8 White House event — citing enterprise demand for AI infrastructure (7).
The earnings were real, the backlog was real and the $9.7 billion government contract was real. Trump didn’t manufacture any of that.
What he added is harder to price. A presidential endorsement that may never come again doesn’t show up in a filing. Investors buying near record highs are paying for both prospects: the AI boom they can see in the numbers, and the political tailwind they can’t.
Dell is up roughly 255% since Trump started talking. Michael Dell has passed Zuckerberg. And the president’s account holds shares of a company he keeps telling the country to buy.
Investing in a volatile market
Dell’s record breaking numbers aren’t the only story here. Since Trump took office, and even before, the stock market has whipsawed widely — especially in 2025 when reciprocal tariffs were announced. In 2026, the S&P is also regularly breaking new record highs (8).
This is despite uncertainty surrounding tariff disputes, shifting geopolitical alliances, stubborn inflation, and — more recently — escalating tensions in the Middle East. Concerns that AI-related stocks have become overvalued have only added to the anxiety.
These kinds of market conditions can create a lot of confusion, but also present opportunities for quick-witted investors to both get in at the ground floor and potentially buy the dip if appropriate.
Keep trading costs low
While short-term volatility can be unsettling, markets don’t always move in the direction investors expect. If you’re looking to capitalize on individual stocks, one of the simplest ways to improve your long-term returns is by minimizing fees.
While a few dollars in commissions may not seem like much, those costs can quietly eat into gains over time — especially over 30-years of investing in the lead up to retirement.
That’s where discount brokers like SoFi shine.
SoFi’s easy-to-use DIY investing platform lets you buy stocks, ETFs and more with no commission fees and no account minimums.
The platform is designed for both beginners and seasoned investors, with real-time investing news, curated content and the data you need to make smart decisions about the stocks that matter most to you.
Plus, for a limited time you can get up to $1,000 in stock when you fund a new account.
Get expert advice
Volatile markets can create opportunities to buy great companies at discounted prices. The challenge is figuring out which stocks are temporarily out of favor and which are falling for good reason.
Separating the bargains from the value traps can be easier said than done. If you don’t spend your days following earnings reports, economic data and industry trends, having a little guidance can go a long way.
Moby’s team of former hedge fund analysts and experts spend hundreds of hours each week sifting through financial news and data to provide you with breaking stock recommendations.
And if you sign up for Moby Premium you get one free top-stock.
Moby’s success speaks for itself. The platform’s stock picks have outperformed the S&P 500 index by about 11.9% over the past four years.
Even better, Moby offers a 30-day money-back guarantee so you can see if the service is right for you.
Build better financial habits
It’s easy to get caught up chasing the market’s hottest stocks. Dell stock has already skyrocketed over 235% so far this year. But after a run like that, many are left wondering whether they’ve already missed the boat.
Instead of trying to outsmart the market, consider building a habit of investing regularly in a diversified portfolio or broad-market index fund.
“You’re making a terrible mistake if you stay out of a game that you think is going to be very good over time because you think you can pick a better time to enter it,” legendary investor Warren Buffett said during an interview with CNBC in 2017 (9).
In other words, the old adage holds true, according to Buffett: time in the market beats timing the market.
One way to stay disciplined is to automate your investing. Apps like Acorns allow users to invest spare change from everyday purchases automatically, helping them steadily build wealth without having to think about every market move.
All you have to do is link your cards and Acorns will round up each purchase to the nearest dollar, investing the difference — your spare change — into a diversified portfolio of ETFs managed by experts at leading investment firms like Vanguard and BlackRock.
While those amounts may seem small, consistency can be surprisingly powerful. Over time, those small deposits can snowball into a meaningful portfolio. Investing just $20 each week for 30 years can help you save over $179,000, assuming it compounds at 10% annually.
With Acorns, you can invest in an index ETF with as little as $5 — and, if you sign up today and set up a recurring investment, Acorns will add a $20 bonus to help you begin your investment journey.
Coupled with other, more targeted investments, a strategy like this can develop a financial backbone for your future — regardless of who sits in the White House.
— With files from Rudro Chakrabarti
You May Also Like
Join 250,000+ readers and get Moneywise’s best stories and exclusive interviews first — clear insights curated and delivered weekly. Subscribe now.
Article sources
We rely only on vetted sources and credible third-party reporting. For details, see our editorial ethics and guidelines.
Forbes (1); Macrotrends (2); U.S. Office of Government Ethics (3); Dell Technologies/U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (4); CNBC (5), (8), (9); U.S. Department of War (6); Fortune (7)
This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.
