Investing.com -- Dell Technologies and Hewlett Packard Enterprise remain attractive plays on both artificial intelligence infrastructure spending and a recovering enterprise hardware market, even after sharp gains in their share prices this year, Barclays said in a research note on Tuesday.

The brokerage said Dell has emerged as a leading original equipment manufacturer in AI servers, benefiting from strong demand from enterprises, sovereign customers and newer cloud providers, while maintaining profitability in the business. HPE, meanwhile, is increasingly capitalizing on networking opportunities following its acquisition of Juniper Networks and has taken a more selective approach to AI server contracts.

Barclays said Dell has greater exposure to AI and cloud markets, estimating that such businesses will account for about 36% of its 2026 revenue, compared with roughly 17% for HPE. The firm expects Dell to benefit more from AI server demand, while HPE is better positioned in enterprise networking through Juniper.

The report also highlighted improving conditions in traditional enterprise hardware markets. Barclays said both companies have successfully passed through higher memory and component costs without significantly hurting demand, supporting stronger server growth and margins. Enterprise server demand is being aided by infrastructure refresh cycles and early AI-related workloads.

While Barclays does not expect major near-term catalysts in the second half of the year, it said both companies could benefit from additional AI-related contract wins across end markets. The brokerage maintained Overweight ratings on both stocks, with a slightly more favorable view on Dell in AI servers and HPE in enterprise networking.