Strong May retail sales

Apple showed signs of , despite a lackluster month for the overall PC industry. According to NPD, retail PC shipment growth fell to 4% in May, led by desktops, falling 10% year-over-year and 8% month-over-month; however, retail notebooks shipments were much stronger, growing 23% year-over-year, in line with March figures. "From a vendor perspective, Apple Computer was the big winner, growing units 79% year-over-year overall and 94% year-over-year in standalone retail," the research firm said. Gateway also did well expanding its retail business 37% year-over-year, while HP experienced a sales decline of 10% year-over-year, according to Forbes.com.

Based on the data Credit Suisse First Boston reiterated a "market weight" rating on the PC hardware industry, a the month represented the first material slowdown for PC shipments in over a year, according to the report. The last time the market saw single-digit growth was in October 2003. CSFB concluded: "The strength in retail year to date has been somewhat unexpected to us given the consumer strength over the past two years, along with slowing macro economic trends. However, it is important not to overanalyze NPD's shipment information, as this is not the first time units have slowed before immediately recovering--October 2003--in the following month." The report says that CSFB expects worldwide PC unit sales will grow 8% in 2005. Apple and Dell are rated at "outperform" with $45 price targets.

by MacNN Staff