New York, Nov. 19 (TradersHuddle.com) -- Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL), the world’s third-largest maker of personal computers, reported third quarter earnings that missed expectations after market share losses and higher costs cut into the company’s bottom line.

Dell lost share during the back to school shopping period as Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HPQ) and other Asian imports grew. Sales in the 3^rd quarter declined 15% to $12.9 billion. Net income fell to $337 million, or 17 cents a share, from $727 million, or 37 cents, a year earlier. Analysts on average were expecting a profit of 27 cents per share on sales of $13.1 billion.

Chief Financial Officer Brian Gladden said Dell is losing PC market share because most of the market’s growth is in the consumer segment, where the company is not a big player as it only represents 20% of the company’s sales.

Dell said it expects fourth-quarter revenue to improve over the third quarter, with a pickup in consumer demand in the holiday season and some improvement in the corporate area.

The PC maker has the goal to reduce the company’s reliance on PCs, which account for about 60% of revenue and boost sales of products and services that bring higher profit margins.

No doubt the miss will be another blow for the technology sector, since today it received a downgrade in the chip sector, sending Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) shares plunging, as analysts see supply of chips outpacing demand putting at risk the earnings potential in the industry.