HONG KONG - Shares of Acer Inc fell on Wednesday to the lowest level in more than two years in Taipei trading after the world's second-largest maker of personal computers cut its forecast for second-quarter shipments.

Acer dropped 4.6 percent to NT$50.1 ($1.73) as of 9:39 am local time on Wednesday, the lowest intraday price since March 31, 2009. The stock has slumped 44 percent this year, making it the worst-performing member in the MSCI AC Asia-Pacific Information Technology Index.

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Acer said on Tuesday that PC shipments in the current quarter might fall 10 percent from the previous three months. The company predicted in March that sales would be flat quarter-on-quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co on Wednesday cut its recommendation for the stock to "underweight" from "neutral", while Goldman Sachs Group Inc lowered its estimates for the computer maker's earnings.

"We believe it could take some time for investors to regain confidence in the operating outlook and earnings visibility given the succession of downward guidance issued by the company over the past few weeks," JPMorgan analysts including Gokul Hariharan wrote in a report on Wednesday.

The latest cut in sales guidance by Acer came after the company lowered its forecast for first-quarter PC revenue on March 25. Gianfranco Lanci resigned as chief executive officer and president of the PC maker on March 31, as the company said the executive disagreed with the board on future strategy.

On Tuesday, Acer appointed Jim Wong, who headed the company's information technology products division, to take over Lanci's role as president. Chairman J.T. Wang previously took Lanci's CEO position after the Italian executive's resignation.

The expected decline in PC shipments in the second quarter was a result of company's reorganization, inventory adjustment and a seasonal slowdown in the PC industry, Acer said.

Bloomberg News