Acer slashed its full year shipment target for tablets by almost 60% and expects lower notebook shipments as the world's number two PC maker works to clear accumulated inventory.
However, Acer, which has missed its last three quarterly forecasts and saw the departure of former chief executive Gianfranco Lanci in March following a clash over how to deal with the tablet challenge, said it expected overall shipments to improve from the third quarter.
"The third quarter will be considerably more stable. It will be similar to the second quarter or better," chairman JT Wang told a shareholder meeting on Wednesday. "The fourth quarter will be even better."
Wang told reporters after the meeting that the new target for tablet shipments this year was 2.5 million to three million units, much lower than the five million to seven million units target set at the beginning of the year.
Acer said it expected to sell 800 000 tablets in each of the second and third quarters.
In terms of total shipments, Wang said he expected second quarter to fall less than 10% from the previous quarter, exceeding forecasts.
In April, the PC maker cut its forecast for shipments in the second quarter to a 10% decline from January to March, citing its recent reorganisation, inventory adjustment and a seasonal slowdown in the PC industry.
Last month, the company posted a 29.2%drop in total sales.
Shares of Acer have plunged 30% since 25 March, when the company first cut its first quarter PC revenue outlook and followed by the sudden management changes.
Acer shares had slipped 0.4% by 12am on Wednesday, outperforming a 0.95% decline by the broader market.
Acer said early this month that it would take a $150 million charge to write off inventory and doubtful payments in Europe and would cut 300 jobs there.
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