Shipments
The competition in the PC industry has never been tougher, despite a considerable slowdown. As can be seen in the table below, Lenovo has overtaken Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL) as the second largest PC manufacturer. The Chinese giant has utilized its ability to compete on price to increase its total market share from 13.6% to 15.5%. The total shipments of Lenovo have seen an 8.2% growth in the same period. Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL), on the other hand, has seen a slide in its market share, which has decreased from 12.2% to only 10.2% in 4Q 2012. The company has seen a staggering 20% decline in its PC shipments compared to the same period last year.
Gartner: PC Shipments 4Q 2012 (Units)
| Company | 4Q12 Shipments | 4Q12 Market Share (%) | 4Q11 Shipments | 4Q11 Market Share (%) | 4Q12-4Q11 Growth (%) |
| HP | 14,645,041 | 16.2 | 14,711,280 | 15.5 | -0.5 |
| Lenovo | 13,976,668 | 15.5 | 12,915,766 | 13.6 | 8.2 |
| Dell | 9,206,391 | 10.2 | 11,633,387 | 12.2 | -20.9 |
| Acer Group | 8,622,701 | 9.5 | 9,690,624 | 10.2 | -11.0 |
| ASUS | 6,528,228 | 7.2 | 6,133,042 | 6.5 | 6.4 |
| Others | 37,393,913 | 41.4 | 39,934,184 | 42.0 | -6.4 |
| Total | 90,372,942 | 100.0 | 95,018,284 | 100.0 | -4.9 |
Proxy Fight
Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:HPQ) has recently made some positive moves in the handheld industry. It recently launched one of the cheapest tablets in the industry, the Slate 7. The new tablet can be a game changer in the industry, which is currently dominated by players like Apple and Amazon. As could be expected after a scandal as big as the Autonomy acquisition failure, it seems once again there will be some major leadership changes at HP. It all started last Tuesday when proxy advisory firm ISS recommended shareholders of HP vote against the chairman and two other directors. According to the advisory firm, investors should vote against the Chairman Ray Lane and directors G. Kennedy Thompson & John Hammergren.
The recommendation is based upon the role of these individual in the Autonomy acquisition and the lack of due diligence on their part. Glass Lewis has also recommended investors oust 4 directors, adding Rajiv Gupta and Marc Andreessen to the ISS’ list. The firm has advised investors against reelecting these members last year as well, due to their role in hiring HP CEO Leo Apotheker. New York City’s public pension fund has also joined the efforts to stop the reelection of these members. The fund only holds 5.5 million shares of Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:HPQ), i.e. approximately $116 million, but their opinion holds a lot of sway over the market.
Bottom line
The situation is becoming pretty interesting just before the annual meeting of shareholders, which will be held in Mountain View on March 20. It seems that the market will witness a change in the board of Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE:HPQ), which makes sense after the terrible decisions that have received the blessing of this board. It seems that DellDell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL) is not the only PC manufacturer going through a transition. The founder of Dell is trying to take the company private in a multibillion dollar deal, but the offer is facing a lot of resistance from a number of shareholders.
The dumping of HP’s current management might result in a positive reaction from the market and short term buying opportunity for investors.
The article Management Changes Can Result in a Rally originally appeared on Fool.com. and is written by Mohsin Saeed.
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