Apple Store“With Apple Inc. expected to roll out its Apple TV home media device this month after a slight delay, Wall Street analysts have begun to project what role the new gadget will play in consumers’ living rooms – and in Apple’s financial results,” Rex Crum reports for MarketWatch. “Apple shares rose as much as 2% to $91.55 in Monday trading after two analysts issued upbeat notes on the upcoming product.”

“Apple has sold more than 90 million iPod portable media players and has about 110 million active users of its iTunes online store, according to Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster. That customer base should ‘give Apple a significant early lead in the digital living room’ over Microsoft Corp.’s Media Center PCs that run the Windows operating system, Munster wrote in a research note,” Crum reports.

Crum reports, “Because the iTunes customer base is nearly 10 times larger than the estimated 12 million active users of Media Center PCs, the Apple TV could be ‘a Trojan horse’ that Apple can use to extend its dominance from portable digital players into the market for home media centers… Munster currently holds an outperform rating and a $124 price target on Apple’s stock.”

“Munster’s comments echoed those of ThinkEquity Partners analyst Jonathan Hoopes, who said Monday that even though the upcoming iPhone has claimed much of the Apple spotlight, ‘the potential is huge for this small (Apple TV) device,’” Crum reports. “Hoopes kept his buy rating and $120 price target on Apple’s stock unchanged.”

Full article here.

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