“Apple Inc. tends to prove unstoppable even when other computer makers falter. In the most recent quarter, shipments of Macs surged 41%. That’s nearly three times the 15% global growth rate for PCs in general,” Arik Hesseldahl reports for BusinessWeek.
“The casualties of the soft PC sales environment are already piling up. In a presentation at a Bank of America (BAC) conference on Sept. 16, Dell Chief Financial Officer Brian Gladden bluntly complained of a ‘very weak August’ with sales that were “weaker than usual” and that sales hadn’t snapped back in September,” Hesseldahl reports.
“Will Apple be one of those casualties? Gene Munster at Piper Jaffray thinks not. In a note issued on Sept. 22, he said the latest data on retail sales from research firm NPD suggests that Apple may be holding its own despite the weaker economy,” Hesseldahl reports.
“Munster raised his estimate for Apple’s per-share earnings to $1.17 from $1.11 and boosted his revenue forecast to $8.37 billion from $8.07 billion, mostly because he thinks sales of Macs, iPods, and iPhones will be higher than previously expected,” Hesseldahl reports.
“Shaw Wu of American Technology Research in San Francisco shares the upbeat view. ‘In two of its three big franchises, Mac and iPhone, penetration is very low and starting in the higher-income demographics,’ Wu wrote on Sept. 22. ‘The disturbance in the macroeconomic environment is within lower-income demographics.… We believe AAPL’s business will remain strong in the near- to medium term. Enough high-end consumers are still buying tech,’” Hesseldahl reports.
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader "Matti" for the heads up.]
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