TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan's top computer vendor Acer Inc , battling China's Lenovo for the title of the world's third-largest PC maker, posted a better-than-expected 58 percent rise in quarterly profit thanks to strong laptop demand from emerging and mature markets.

Acer reported on Thursday a net profit of T$2.92 billion (US$90 million) for its third quarter ended September, higher than T$1.85 billion a year ago and beating the market's forecast of T$2.26 billion, according to seven analysts on Reuters Estimates.

The firm had earned a net profit of T$1.98 billion in the second quarter. Its January-September net profit totaled T$10.56 billion, 18 percent higher than a year earlier, the company said in a statement.

Third-quarter consolidated revenue reached NT$121.93 billion (US$3.74 billion), up 28.7 percent year-on-year and 30.4 percent from the previous quarter.

Acer will hold an investor conference on Friday to discuss the results.

It competes head-to-head with Lenovo behind heavyweights Dell and Hewlett-Packard .

Lenovo took the No.3 spot in terms of worldwide shipments in the third quarter, with an 8.2 percent market share, while Acer had an 8.1 percent market share, according to IDC.

But Acer may have leapfrogged Lenovo after Acer bought PC maker Gateway Inc for $710 million. The deal was closed last week.

Macquarie analyst Daniel Chang said Acer would see continued sales growth in the fourth quarter on stronger-than-expected notebook demand, but added there long-term concerns about the consolidation of Gateway and retained a "neutral" rating on the Taiwan firm.

Acer shares rose 3.43 percent to T$72.40 on Thursday before the results were announced, outperforming the benchmark TAIEX index, which gained 1.33 percent.

(US$1=T$32.6)
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Photo:
A man walks by an Acer advertisement in Taiwan, October 25, 2007. Taiwan's top computer vendor battling China's Lenovo for the title of the world's third-largest PC maker, posted a better-than-expected 58 percent rise in quarterly profit thanks to strong laptop demand from emerging and mature markets. REUTERS/Pichi Chuang