Three Big PC Giants Report More Than Expected Global Market "Warm"

As HP and Dell both released financial reports in the early morning of February 26, Beijing time, all the report cards of the world's three major PC giants were released. The key words of the three financial reports are all beyond market expectations.

The capital market has also given its own attitude. HP rose 0.75% to $28.19 on February 25, and continued to rise 0.04% after hours. Dell closed down 2.46% to $79.68, but rose 1.66% to $81.

Lenovo Group's share price has been up for more than two months. On February 3, when the financial report was released, its share price once climbed to HK $10.5. The closing share price rose 4.63% to HK $10.16, and reached a new high of HK $11.12 on February 18, doubling the price of HK $5.5 in early December 2020.

The financial reports of the three major PC giants show the high prospect of the global PC market. In the view of many industry insiders, the global PC market will have certain growth space in the short and even medium term.

Beautiful financial report

HP's latest financial report in the first quarter of fiscal year 2021, revenue, profit and fiscal year performance exceeded expectations.

HP reported net revenue of $15.65 billion (about 101.3 billion yuan) in the first quarter, higher than analysts' expected $14.97 billion (about 96.96 billion yuan). Net profit was US $1.068 billion (about RMB 6.91 billion), up 58% year on year.

In HP's financial report, the contribution of PC is indispensable. By business system, HP personal systems group's first quarter revenue was $10.603 billion, up 7% from $9.892 billion in the same period of last year, accounting for 67.75% of total revenue.

Among them, the net revenue of the commercial sector decreased by 6% year-on-year, and that of the individual consumer sector increased by 34%. In terms of shipment volume, desktop computer shipment decreased by 23%, notebook shipment increased by 33%, and total shipment increased by 15%.

In terms of profits, HP personal systems group also performed well. In the first quarter, its pre tax profit was $758 million, up 14.5% from $662 million a year earlier.

In the quarter ended January 29, Dell technology's sales rose 9% to $26.1 billion. Net profit was $1.343 billion, up 223% from $416 million in the same period last year.

Revenue from selling PCs to commercial and consumer customers is still more than half. Dell's consumer PC revenue rose 19% to $3.8 billion, compared with 14% growth in the previous quarter. PC sales to businesses and government agencies rose 16% to $9.9 billion.

Before Hewlett Packard and Dell, Lenovo Group, which announced its financial results as early as February 3, has greatly exceeded market expectations. As of December 31, 2020, Lenovo's turnover in the current quarter reached 114.2 billion yuan, up 22.3% year-on-year. The pre tax profit reached 3.9 billion yuan, up 51.6% year on year. Net profit reached 2.6 billion yuan, up 53.1% year on year. This is also Lenovo Group after the second quarter of the performance of a new record.

Among them, Lenovo's personal computer and intelligent device business (IDG) business increased by 26.5% year-on-year, the profit before tax increased by 35%, the profit margin before tax reached 6.6%, and the global PC market share reached 25.3%.

IDC said that home office, online learning and the recovery of consumer demand will be the main driving factors of global PC market growth in 2020.

According to its data, in the fourth quarter of 2020, the global PC shipment increased by 26.1% year-on-year, reaching 91.6 million units; in 2020, the global PC market shipment increased by 13.1% year-on-year. The last time the PC market grew so high, it was still 13.7% in 2010.

The future can be expected

In 2020, affected by the epidemic situation, the global PC market is "full of warmth". What will happen to the market in 2021? How long can the current PC market continue?

In this regard, many industry insiders gave an optimistic view. In the past several consecutive quarters, Yang Yuanqing, chairman and CEO of Lenovo Group, is optimistic about the sustainable demand of the future PC market, and predicts that the global PC market will break through the 300 million Taiwan mark. The 2020 PC shipment data of several research institutions also support Yang Yuanqing's judgment.

Talking about the future market, Yang Yuanqing said frankly that "computers and tablets will continue to grow after the epidemic.". "Home work, study, and entertainment are becoming a new normal, becoming everyone's new consumption habit, and this consumption habit will drive consumption upgrading," Yang Yuanqing pointed out. "In the past, people only used mobile phones for information consumption, but now they upgrade to one mobile phone plus a computer or tablet, which will certainly drive the continuous growth of the computer and tablet market."

"I am very optimistic about the future growth of the PC market, both in 2021 and in the medium and long term ahead. I am particularly optimistic." In an interview with 21st century business reporter at the end of January, Alex CHO, President of HP's global personal information systems business, made a similar point.

In his opinion, the current work environment or learning environment is a mixed state of online and offline. In the future, remote and offline will be deeply integrated. "Next, PCs are crucial for direct interaction between users in industries such as work, study, games, health care, and so on, which is why I am confident in the development of PCs in 2021 and beyond."

Alex Cho also pointed out that in the future, users will not only need to use the cable online and offline, but also need higher quality remote conference, distance learning and remote creation. "This will definitely promote the growth of the industry. We need not only quantity improvement, but also qualitative improvement."

"All the signs indicate that the PC market will have some room for growth in the short and even medium term." Ryan Reith, vice president of IDC's global mobile device tracking program, said, "the focus of PC market growth in 2020 will be around home office and online learning, but the capabilities of the consumer market itself should not be ignored. We can see game computers and monitors selling at all-time highs. We also see chrome penetrate into the consumer market in addition to education. "

?