CHICAGO, July 15, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Zacks.com announces
the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the
Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events
impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently
featured in the blog include: Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ),
Dell (Nasdaq: DELL), Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL),
GameStop Corporation (NYSE: GME) and Amazon.com Inc.
(Nasdaq: AMZN).
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Here are highlights from Thursday's Analyst Blog:
2Q Witnessed Slow PC Sales Growth
Recent data published by market research firms Gartner and IDC
suggest that the personal computer market grew slower than expected
in the second quarter, given the growing popularity of tablet
computers.
Moreover, lack of consumer demand in the U.S. and Europe also affected sales to a considerable
extent.
Though the two market research firms used different
methodologies to track the growth, both concluded that PC shipments
improved in the second quarter but were still below
expectations.
Gartner revealed that 85.2 million PCs were shipped, a gain of
2.3% from the prior quarter but below its 6.7% projection level.
IDC, on the other hand, reported PC shipments of 84.4 million, a
2.6% gain, below its projection of 2.9 %.
IDC said that overall shipments rose 2.6% in the quarter, but
was slightly lower than their most recent projection of 2.9%
growth. PC shipments in the U.S were also down 4.2%.
As per the report published by IDC, the growth in the first half
of 2011 was impacted to a considerable extent by the economic
worries and competition from smartphones, tablets and other new
technologies. Gartner, however, said that the PC market is adapting
to the new pressures.
According to IDC, Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) remained
the No. 1 vendor with 18.1% market share followed by Dell
(Nasdaq: DELL) with 12.9%, while Lenovo overtook Acer for the
#3 position with 12.2%. At #5 was Asus, which overtook Toshiba.
Lenovo posted the biggest gain among the top vendors, as it
witnessed year-over-year shipment growth of 23%. H-P posted 3%
growth, while Dell grew 2.8%. Meanwhile, Acer saw shipments fall
off 10.1%.
IDC is of the opinion that PC makers continue to leverage their
strength in China, although they
were able to cumulate some share in the U.S., particularly in the
consumer segment.
The report published by Gartner, further suggests that Lenovo is
the fastest growing player in the global PC market, growing 22.5%
versus the year-ago quarter, while Acer's shipments shrank
20.4%.
In the U.S. market, Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) surpassed Acer,
and is now ranked third with 10.7% market share having grown 8.5%.
Acer's U.S. sales were down 22.6% from a year ago.
IDC said the United States
market was weak in general, with shipments declining 4.2%. The
biggest reason was a drop in netbook shipments, which sold strongly
before the advent of tablets. However, strong upside in PC
shipments to Asia, Latin America and Japan offset these declines.
As far as the United States is
concerned, Hewlett-Packard led with 4.5 million computers shipped,
down 1.2%. Dell followed with 3.8 million, down 9.8%. Apple rose
from fifth to the third position, with 1.8 million, up 8.5%, based
on strong sales of its Mac and MacBook computers. It also overtook
Acer and Toshiba.
GameStop Incorporates Impulse
GameStop Corporation (NYSE: GME), the video game and
entertainment software retailer, recently completed the
incorporation of GameStop Impulse on its website.
GameStop Impulse, the digital distribution platform, segregated
its offerings into three components: Impulse Client, Impulse
Reactor and Impulse Publisher.
Impulse Client offers a vast digital distribution platform,
thereby facilitating users to access their preferred games
instantly with an option of downloading the same through their
web-enabled devices.
Impulse Reactor provides content publishers with copy protection
tools, along with user friendly digital rights management.
Moreover, Impulse Publisher renders effective instantaneous
reporting and management gears, thus facilitating the publishers to
administer their game.
The recent technological advancements have made the industry
highly aggressive as buyers now have multiple options to obtain
video game accessories and softwares for gaming systems and
computers.
The gaming industry is experiencing a transition, resulting in a
decline in handy and console game sales. However, there is rise in
consumer spending on digital download, mobile gaming apps, social
network games and used games. In such a scenario, GameStop
Impulse will help the company to strengthen its foothold.
Going forward, with the increasing demand for online social
gaming, the video game industry will soon see changes in business
dynamics. Moreover, the social gaming market is witnessing healthy
growth due to its social and interactive environment compared with
the conventional platforms.
Currently, the video game industry is poised for strong growth
in 2011. According to market research firm Gartner, the video game
industry will grow at 10.4% to $74.4
billion from the 2010 level of $67.0
billion.
To be company specific, GameStop, which faces stiff competition
from Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN), is well positioned to
benefit from the gaming products and PC amusement software market.
The company follows a strategy of store extensions in productive
regions and offers the largest collection of games.
Furthermore, GameStop is a significant player in the used gaming
products market. The company provides a wide array of used video
game products for both current and previous generation platforms.
In addition, the market for these products has been resilient to
the recent economic downturn.
However, weak consumer spending, the decrease in new game
releases, deferred discretionary purchases and pricing pressure
might dent results for the company.
We prefer to maintain a long-term 'Neutral' recommendation on
the stock. GameStop also holds a Zacks #3 Rank, which translates
into a short-term 'Hold' rating.
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