By Eva Dou
TAIPEI--Taiwanese personal computer maker Asustek Computer Inc.
(2357.TW) said Friday it plans to ship 28% more notebook PCs and
tablets in the third quarter, after posting largely steady earnings
for the second quarter as cost-cutting helped offset the impact
from lower sales.
As the global PC industry is in sharp decline as consumers
increasingly shift their purchases toward mobile gadgets like
smartphones and tablets, Asustek posted net profit for the three
months ended June 30 of 4.77 billion New Taiwan dollars (US$159
million), down 1% from NT$4.82 billion a year earlier. The result
slightly fell short of the average NT$5.1 billion forecast of 19
analysts polled earlier by Thomson ONE Analytics.
Hit by rising tablet inventories and the continued slump in
global laptop demand, revenue in the second quarter fell 5% to
NT$89.66 billion from NT$94.20 billion a year earlier.
Asustek, the world's fifth-largest PC maker by shipments,
shipped 4.1 million units of notebook PCs in the second quarter,
down from 4.7 million units in the first quarter, the company said.
Tablet shipments also fell to 2.0 million units from 3.0 million
units.
The company said it expects to ship 4.3 million notebook PCs and
3.5 million tablets in the third quarter.
Asustek had outperformed many rivals for much of the past year
thanks to a partnership with Google Inc. on the popular Nexus 7
tablet. But with a new version of the Nexus 7 just unveiled,
Asustek has been saddled with inventory of the older version,
analysts say.
Asustek's global PC market share fell to 6.0% in the second
quarter from 6.8% a year earlier, partly due to its exit from the
mini-notebook market, according to market research firm Gartner.
Worldwide PC shipments fell by 10.9% in the second quarter, Gartner
said.
Write to Eva Dou at eva.dou@wsj.com
Order free Annual Report for ASUSTek Computer, Inc.
Visit http://djnweurope.ar.wilink.com/?ticker=TW0002357001 or
call +44 (0)208 391 6028
Order free Annual Report for Google, Inc.
Visit http://djnweurope.ar.wilink.com/?ticker=US38259P5089 or
call +44 (0)208 391 6028
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires