Dell Inc. posted a higher-than-expected quarterly profit Thursday amid strong demand from consumers and foreign markets and lower operating costs.

Dell's unit shipment growth of 22 percent was the strongest in two years, although it added that corporate customers in the United States were keeping a tight grip on spending, a trend it expects to last through the summer.

Net income in the three months ended May 2 rose to $784 million, or 38 cents per share, from $759 million, or 33 cents per share, a year earlier. Revenue was $16 billion, up 9 percent from a year earlier.

Analysts had expected a net profit of 33 cents per share on revenue of $15.7 billion in its fiscal first quarter, according to averages of Wall Street expectations on Reuters Estimates.

Operating expenses were 12.9 percent of revenue, down 1 percentage point from the previous quarter, Chief Financial Officer Don Carty said. A multi-billion-dollar share buyback program has also reduced the overall share count by 10 percent over the past year, the bulk of that coming in the first quarter.

Dell, based in Round Rock, Texas, cut 3,700 jobs in the quarter, bringing total reductions to about 7,000 over the past year and getting it close to its target of eliminating about 8,900 positions.