“Merrill Lynch raised its target price and fiscal year 2005 and 2006 estimates for Apple Computer, saying it expected the company to sell 4 million iPods in the December quarter, up from 3.5 million and 12.9 million for fiscal 2005 up from 10.7 million. The broker upped its target share price to $78 from $61 and raised its fiscal year 2005 earnings per share estimate to $1.45 from $1.38,” Madeleine Acey reports for CBS MarketWatch.
Merrill now expects $1.80 earnings per share for 2006, up from $1.71.
In addition, Merrill told investors to look out for a flash memory-based iPod from Apple in the first quarter and other possible exciting products such as an entertainment server.
Full article here.
Related MacDailyNews articles:
Apple jumps 5 percent to $68 before bell; Bank of America pegs iPod sales at 4.1 million for quarter – November 29, 2004
UBS raises estimates, target price for Apple Computer; says iPod, iMac selling ‘very well’ – November 29, 2004
Hopefully, come January, Apple will release the rumored ‘flash-based mp3 player that doesn’t suck’ and really take the wind out of Creative’s sails.
Apple would dominate the hard drive *and* flash-based player markets. Yeah, baby.
Can’t wait to see the server!!
God, I hope to god Apple does an entertainment server that also replaces TiVo.
I’d buy it in a heart beat.
And give us a world class universal remote.
I doubt January will be the release date for the expected flash iPod. I expect it in Feb-March time frame. But we’ll see.
whoa, whoa, whoa… wait just a minute!
Enterntainment server?! This came out of the blue. Never heard that Apple had this in the works!
Entertainment server, while unexpected, does make sense. Steve always said the PC-in-the-living room was a bad idea. People want components, not PCs (particularly ones running Windows), controlling their entertainment experience. But, that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for a computer company in the living room.
A sort of set-top box with Apple’s logo on it? I’m there.
I hope MDN doesn’t mind if I plug a nifty article from the MacTeens website – it describes the new Motorola BT5200 cable set-top box with firewire, and a couple free utilities which give you Tivo-like capabilities on your Mac – without the Tivo!
http://macteens.com/more.php?id=410_0_1_0_C
Creative has wind in their sails? Must be self-induced. The only way they won’t have wind in their sails is when their products don’t blow!
Sorry, that’s the Motorola DCT-6200
( I must have confused it with my Bluetooth dongle
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Mmmmm… remote control with a touch sensitive scroll wheel.
Tilted Sideways:
“…the new Motorola BT5200 (…) the Motorola DCT-6200”
Man you gotta *love* those names that sound like ass. Are the same factory robots that assemble their products coming up with the product names?