Acer Sees Tech Rebound

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TAIPEI (Reuters) – Acer, the world’s No.3 PC brand, said on Monday that it expected third quarter revenue to be up about 5 percent due to a rebound in tech demand as the global economy shows more signs of recovery.

Acer also said it expected PC shipments to climb in the fourth quarter from the preceding three months as demand for computers peak ahead of the holiday shopping season.

“Revenue growth is significant because it shows that people are returning to shops and buying computers,” said Vincent Chen, an analyst at Yuanta Securities, who has a “buy” rating on the stock and a target price of T$85.

“A strong operating profit margin also helped, because it means the company can keep costs in control,” he added.

The company forecast revenue the July-September period at a record high of T$167 billion ($5.18 billion).

The company also said it expected net profit to hit T$3.45 billion, in line with a mean estimate for T$3.42 billion in a survey of 15 analysts by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S and compared with T$3.04 billion a year ago.

Acer will release its official third-quarter results and provide an outlook for the fourth quarter on Oct 30.

The last quarter of the year is typically the strongest period for most PC brands, helped by students returning to school and pre-Christmas demand.

This year, the launch of Microsoft’s Windows 7 operating system is likely to help sales further, as the sale of new system software is typically followed by an uptick in consumer demand for computers.

Acer is the latest in a series of tech companies to offer an optimistic outlook, with chip giant Intel raising its revenue forecast in August and contract PC maker Compal revising its shipment forecast upwards.

Many analysts expect Acer and its bigger rival HP to emerge from the downturn faster than such rivals as Lenovo and Dell, due to Acer’s reliance on consumers and HP’s more diversified offerings.

Acer released the statement after the Taiwan stock exchange closed on Monday. Acer shares closed the day down 0.24 percent, lagging a 0.37 advance of the benchmark TAIEX share index.