The personal computer market is showing some signs of life.
After surging during the pandemic to historic heights, PC sales have been slumping for many months now. Consumers loaded up on new laptops while everyone was stuck in work-at-home mode in 2020 and 2021. Enterprise spending has since been hampered by a combination of conservative budgets and lower numbers of full-time office workers. Excess channel inventory has compounded the industry’s problems.
According to Gartner, PC sales fell 16% in 2022, with further declines of 30% in the 2023 first quarter, and 17% in the second quarter.
But there are some promising—if early—signs that demand is picking up. The Taiwanese laptop companies
Acer
and Asus report revenue monthly, and both this week reported a surprise jump in July sales. Acer sales rose 1.5% from the same month a year ago, the first year-over-year increase since June 2022. Asus sales for the month were up 7% from a year ago, its first year-over-year increase since last September. Gartner data show that Acer’s sales were down 21% in the June quarter, while Asus sales declined 17%.
UBS analyst David Vogt notes that “while one month doesn’t make a trend,” the reports from Acer and Asus follow generally positive commentary from their rivals Dell Technologies (ticker: DELL) and
HPInc.
(HPQ) in their April quarter earnings reports. When reporting financial results, Dell said its inventory situation has normalized, while HP predicted improving market conditions in the second half of the year.
“The July revenue data point should be viewed as an incremental positive for the industry,” Vogt writes, despite cautious commentary on the outlook for
Apple
‘s (AAPL) Mac sales in the September quarter. Apple CFO Luca Maestri said on the company’s recent earnings call that Mac sales were likely to be down double-digits, in percentage terms, from the year-ago quarter. Wall Street estimates call for HP to report a 13% decline in sales from its Personal Systems Group for its July quarter, according to FactSet, with Dell’s Client Solutions Group sales expected to decline 22%.
HP reports July quarter financial results on Aug. 29, while Dell will report on Aug. 31.
Write to Eric J. Savitz at [email protected]
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