Acer Group chairman and chief executive officer Stan Shih has urged foreign investors to take a long-term view of Acer, the group's core PC-making company that recently saw its stock price plunge to less than half of its year-to-date high.
Addressing foreign investors last week at the Made in Taiwan conference, hosted by Credit Lyonnais Securities Asia, Shih pleaded with foreign investors to consider both the company's long-term investments, as well as its core PC business, when evaluating the stock.
"By mid-September, Acer's market value was $US4.34 billion, of which the companies we have invested in accounted for $3.8 billion. If you deduct the investment share, it leaves only $547 million and seriously undervalues Acer's true market value," Shih said.
He also claimed that the company's core PC business is underrated. For the period from January to August, Acer's notebook business has grown at 61 per cent year on year, while shipments of Acer-branded PCs grew by 27 per cent, he said.
In a thinly veiled reference to IBM bailing out of an order for consumer desktop PCs, Shih said the sudden order cancellation of one of Acer's OEM (original equipment manufacturer) customers had led to a $NT20 billion ($AU1.2 billion) revenue shortfall this year. He added, however, that new OEM partnerships are already under discussion and under way, which should show significant return in the company's fourth-quarter results.