Over time, the accent on many American words has crept up to the first
syllable. My father (who was a language professor) told me when
automobiles first appeared, when he was young, the word was au-to-mo-BILE,
but it later became au-to-MO-bile and is now AU-to-mo-bile, seemingly
skipping au-TO-mo-bile en route. Also "precedence" has lost the battle to
keep the accent on the second syllable (with a long E), although
PREC-e-dence totally ruins the word in my opinion. This trend could
change, of course. I note many people these days saying com-PAR-a-ble
instead of COM-par-a-ble
The French always stress the last syllable, so a surprisingly
French-sounding accent can be imitated by speaking English with the stress
on the last syllable of every polysyllabic word: if you pro-NOUNCE
eng-LISH with the ac-CENT on the last syll-a-BLE you will ap-PEAR to man-Y
A-mer-i-CANS to have a French ac-CENT.
Anyway, I definitely say com-PO-nent.
Along another line (please don't count my puns today), notice how many
people Americanize "Linux" ("lean-uks") into "lynn-uks" or "line-uks."