Goldman Sachs 'encouraged' by improving PC market

15-inch MacBook Air

Analysts are offering their hot takes on IDC's PC market figures, which were released on Monday. Following one note from JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs has thrown its hat into the opinion ring.

In the "America's Technology: Hardware" note from Goldman Sachs seen by AppleInsider, analysts first comment on the PC market's continued decline of 8% year-on-year for Q3 2023, and PC shipments of 68.2 million for the period.

This was considered an improvement by the analysts, compared to the 14% decrease in Q2 2023 and the 29% drop in Q1 2023, as well as a 15% quarter-on-quarter improvement.

"We're encouraged by the improving rate of declines and 2 quarters of sequential PC shipment growth," writes Goldman Sachs. "PC channel inventories are healthier, though pricing likely will remain weak in the near-term against the backdrop of softer consumer spending and IT spending."

For future quarters, Goldman Sachs is "encouraged by the improving trends," with the expectation of industry shipments to grow by 6% in 2024 and 4% in 2025.

There isn't comment on figures relating to Apple, except as part of per-vendor listings, with a view to all of it being "in-line to better."

Apple is listed as having a 23% decline in Mac shipments in IDC's figures, but Goldman Sachs puts it more at -30% year-on-year with a Mac revenue drop of 26% year-on-year.

Goldman Sachs rates Apple as "Buy" and with a 12-month price target of $216.