When Dell announced in 2007 that it would start using chips from Advanced Micro Devices in its machines to stay competitive with other computer makers, Intel cut its payments to the company. By then, the Intel payments were equivalent to 76 percent of Dell’s operating income.

Dell is one of the world's largest manufacturers of PCs, which accounted for 56% of total sales last year. Some investors believe Dell will beat its own forecast of a 14% to 19% revenue growth and an operating income advance of 18% to 23% in fiscal 2011 ending Jan. 31. These pros are betting that Dell will be one of the big winners as the tech group snaps back this year and next. One more bullish sign is Intel's (INTC) robust results for the second quarter and its mention that corporate demand for new systems was strong.

The Methodist contract is one of the most visible examples of what Dell hopes to accomplish with its $3.09 billion 2009 acquisition of Perot Systems, a specialist in health-care information technology. Dell is hoping it can use the unit to move up the technology food chain, offering higher-margin services that complement its relatively low-margin hardware. If successful, the strategy would help Dell combat a slowdown in its core computer business that has pushed it from being the world's largest computer maker to No. 3, behind Hewlett-Packard Co. and Acer Inc.

"What people are trying to figure out with Dell is the balance between revenue and profit," said Cross Research analyst Shannon Cross. "They continue to cut costs, but people were expecting a bit more leverage. The question becomes how much profit can they get out of their revenue stream."

Building market share to the insecure guy who buys rounds of drinks for everyone at a bar. He has lots of friends (i.e., market share) as long as the drinks are flowing. When his fortunes change and the money to buy drinks is gone, so are many of his friends. At that point, the money the poor guy has little to show for his investment.