Acer swings to third-quarter profit; beats estimates

Taiwanese personal computer (PC) maker Acer Inc swung back into profit in the third quarter, beating analyst estimates, thanks to cost-cutting and recovery in the overall PC market.

Net profit reached NT$651 million ($21.31 million) in July-September, versus a T$477.5 million average estimate of 13 analysts in a Thomson Reuters poll.

The result compared with a T$13.1 billion loss in the same period a year earlier, and T$484.7 million profit in April-June.

Revenue fell in August and September from a year earlier but at a much slower pace than the double-digit declines of much of the first half of 2014.

The PC market has been sluggish since the advent of tablet computers and smartphones. But it has shown signs of growth in recent months, with PC chip leader Intel Corp predicting healthy fourth-quarter revenue thanks to heavy replacement of old PCs by businesses.

Shares of Acer closed down 2.66 percent ahead of the earnings release, versus a 0.80 percent fall in the benchmark TAIEX index.