APPLE shares are getting some new love from Wall Street analysts this morning, even as the stock pushes up close to the $500 level.
•Canaccord Genuity analyst T. Michael Walkley this morning repeated his Buy rating on the stock, boosting his target to $665, from $650. He increased his FY 2012 EPS forecast to $42.81 from $41.06; for FY 2013, he goes to $47.47, from $46.50. “Our monthly channel checks indicated very strong sales trends for the iPhone 4S at all three U.S. carriers and overall strong iPhone sales in international markets. We are increasing our March quarter iPhone estimates from 30.1 million to 32.6 million units.”
•Needham analyst Charlie Wolf likewise repeated his Buy rating, while boosting his target to $620, from $540. “Since our previous valuation report, the most important changes in the competitive landscape have occurred in the media tablet market,” he writes in a research note. “With the introduction of the Amazon Kindle Fire and other low-priced tablets, tablet sales have grown at a much faster pace than we previously forecast. From the iPad’s perspective, the device has launched a massive attack on the business market prompting us to materially increase our forecast of iPad sales as well. Courtesy of the halo effect, the increase in our forecast of iPad sales has, in turn, translated into an increase in our forecast of Mac sales, which is also invading the business market.”
•Mizuho Securities analyst Abhey Lamba picked up coverage of the company today with a Buy rating and $635 target. “We believe AAPL is likely to maintain its current leadership in smartphones and tablets given its ability to innovate and price the products aggressively,” the analyst writes in a note. “We view current consensus as conservative since strong momentum in iPhone and iPad shipments is likely to drive estimates and shares even higher. Finally, we expect management to initiate a dividend and start buying back its stock over the next year, which should further support the stock price.”
AAPL is up $18.45, or 3.9%, to $495.13.
(Source :
http://www.forbes.com/sites/ericsavitz/2012/02/09/apple-more-love-from-the-street-shares-pushing-500/)
