SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Fresh speculation that Dell Inc. may be going private sparked a rally in the computer maker’s shares on Monday, even as the company said it would not comment on rumors.

Dell DELL, +1.44% surged 13% to close at $12.29 after Bloomberg News reported, citing unnamed sources, that the Round Rock, Texas, company was in talks with potential private-equity bidders.

“We do not comment on rumor or speculation,” Dell spokesman Jess Blackburn told MarketWatch.

However, founder and Chief Executive Michael Dell sparked speculation about the company going private when he admitted during a 2010 Sanford Bernstein conference that such a path has been considered. See commentary: Why Dell might actually go private this time.

Michael Dell at the launch event of Windows 8 in October. Reuters

Dell has argued in the past that the fact that he is the company’s No. 1 shareholder should assure investors that he knows where he is taking the tech giant. “I approach it from a long-term perspective,” he told MarketWatch in 2011. “It’s an owner-operated model.”

The speculation comes amid more signs of trouble for the personal-computer market, Dell’s core business. On Monday, Gartner said the PC market, which again suffered a decline in shipments, was going through a “structural shift” and that the industry’s problems “point to something beyond a weak economy.”

PC unit shipments fell about 5% year-over-year to 90.3 million in the fourth quarter, Gartner said. Dell lost market share in the period, with its share of overall PC sales falling to 10.2%, down from 12.2% in the year-earlier period. Dell suffered a 21% drop in shipments.

A key factor in the slumping PC market is the steady growth of tablets, which is cannibalizing other segments such as laptops.

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“Whereas as once we imagined a world in which individual users would have both a PC and a tablet as personal devices, we increasingly suspect that most individuals will shift consumption activity to a personal tablet, and perform creative and administrative tasks on a shared PC,” Gartner analyst Mikako Kitagawa said in a statement.

Dell has been focusing on the more lucrative segments of the corporate technology market, mainly data center hardware and services. But the economic slowdown and stiff competition from more established rivals have hurt Dell’s bid to move into higher-margin markets.

However, ISI analyst Brian Marshall said operating as a private company could help Dell succeed in its transformation bid.

“It can be difficult to realize the full value of various corporate assets during transition periods and executing on a long-term transformation as a private company could have advantages,” he said in a note. “We continue to believe that going private makes sense.”

Analyst Tim Bajarin of Creative Strategies Inc. echoed this sentiment, saying Dell has had “a love-hate relationship with Wall Street.”

“Going private is very attractive for companies that need time to change their business focus and have a tough time meeting Wall Streets expectations every quarter while adjusting their long term plans,” he told MarketWatch.

However, some analysts are skeptical.

Sterne Agee analyst Shaw Wu said a private-equity buyout is “possible,” but he argued in a note that “the likelihood is low as it would take sizable financing for a company of Dell’s size with its $21 billion market cap.”

In an note, Mizuho Securities analyst Abhey Lamba also cited the potential deal as big hurdle in any deal to take Dell private.

“Dell is in the middle of expanding its focus on more profitable parts of the business, which could need significant investments as well as enhanced capability to make more acquisitions,” Lamba wrote. “Unless the private equity investors are willing to continue injecting capital to support strategic decisions, the company’s transition to be more enterprise focused could become even harder.”

Michael Dell has argued that the shift in strategy is paying off, though it will take time for Dell to make the transition.

“I’m talking about short-term [versus] long-term trade offs,” he told MarketWatch in 2011 interview.

Michael Dell himself is sure to play a key role in any move to take the company private. He is Dell’s biggest individual shareholder, with 14% of outstanding shares, according to the company’s latest filing.