SAN FRANCISCO – The combination of accelerating PC unit growth, benign end-market PC pricing and falling component costs is creating a favorable operating environment for PC vendors, says Deutsche Bank Equity Research.  

Recent IDC market data show worldwide PC shipment growth accelerated to 12.5% year-over-year in the second quarter, up 1.5 points sequentially.

DB believes PC unit growth will accelerate through the second half, and unit growth estimates will trend up as a result of continued strength in emerging markets, ongoing consumer strength and early signs of a corporate upgrade cycle. 

In addition, stable PC pricing and declining component costs – DRAM, aggressive near-term hard disk drive pricing and excess CPU inventory – will translate into improving profitability for the sector, says the firm.

IDC data show that worldwide PC shipment growth on the rise, buffeted by continued robust demand in the Asia Pacific (up 20% over last year) and better-than-expected U.S. demand.

The company continues to believe PC unit growth will accelerate through year-end and expects consensus expectations for PC unit growth to trend toward 15%. Continued strength in emerging markets, consumer and the beginning stages of a corporate PC upgrade cycle in the second half will drive improving growth rates through year-end, says the firm.

HP remains the top vendor on a worldwide basis with 19.3% unit share, followed by Dell (16.1%), Lenovo (8.3%), Acer (7.2%) and Toshiba (4.1%). Dell was the top vendor in the U.S. with 28.4% market share, followed by HP (23.6%), Gateway (5.6%), Apple (5.6%), Toshiba (5.3%) and Acer (5.2%). Apple had a particularly strong quarter with growth of 26% year-over-year.

PC pricing remains benign despite the favorable component cost environment, DB says.