“Wall Street analysts gave investors in Apple an early Christmas present on Monday: a bundle of upbeat reports that helped send the company’s shares to an all-time high,” Troy Wolverton reports for TheStreet.com. “Apple’s iPod digital music players appear to be a holiday hit, selling out or in short supply at a number of retailers, the analysts noted. That, plus the potential for an even better year next year, led analysts at Deutsche Bank and Piper Jaffray to raise their price targets on Apple’s stock.”
“‘Our checks over the Thanksgiving weekend suggest that demand for iPods and iMacs is strong and that Apple has sufficient supply to meet demand (so far),’ said Deutsche Bank’s Chris Whitmore, who raised his price target on Apple to $79 from $60. ‘We believe Apple is off to a very strong start to the holiday season.’ Apple has been a non-investment-banking client of Deutsche Bank in the last 15 months,” Wolverton reports. “Whitmore raised his estimate on the number of iPods that Apple will sell this quarter from 9.5 million to 11 million. In particular, he predicted that the company would sell more of its high-end video iPods than previously expected; that should help boost the company’s bottom line.”
“Other analysts were bullish on Apple’s iPod sales but were more concerned about whether the company might leave sales on the table this quarter. J.P. Morgan’s Bill Shope, for instance, predicted that Apple would sell more than the 10.8 million iPods that he previously forecast this holiday season. But he noted that Apple’s retail partners were sold out of iPods on the Friday after Thanksgiving,” Wolverton reports. ‘And some analysts were even more concerned. Piper Jaffray’s Gene Munster, for instance, argued that the Street might be getting ahead of itself on iPod sales. Instead of being a bullish sign, the fact that iPods are sold out at places such as Best Buy is an indicator that Apple is not going to be able to meet demand, he said. Unlike his peers, Munster decided to stand pat with his forecast of 9 million iPods shipped, though he added that Apple might narrowly exceed that number.”
Full article here.
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Related articles:
Piper Jaffray raises Apple Computer price target from $68 to $79 – November 28, 2005
S&P analyst reiterates ‘hold’ on Apple, raises price target from $56 to $66 on TiVo news – November 21, 2005
Bear Stearns reiterates Apple ‘outperform’ rating, raises target to $70; AAPL hits new all-time high – November 16, 2005
Morgan Stanley ups Apple share price target from $60 to $70, expects ‘impressive’ future results – November 10, 2005
UBS: Apple to unveil Intel-based Mac mini in January; AAPL share price target raised to $74 – November 07, 2005
Regardless of whether or not he writes really good news about Apple, or delivers one of his typical ignorant columns, I’m done listening to anything Troy Wolverton has to say. The guy is clearly an amateur.
Flash back to the end of the SUMMER when the Motorola ROKR was introduced. Recall how people were poopooing that Moto was quoting 500,000 “units shipped” instead of “units sold” and further, wouldn’t listen to reason when people tried to explain that is an industry norm. To that I ask you to please note the unit number analysts are addressing here.
In addition, Hammer, I like your stance, if we can’t respect their negative views, why respect their positive ones?
Apple will do fine this season. A little mild concern on the part of the public that they can’t get something in time for Christmas is better than a blasé attitude such as, “Ahh, I’ll wait to get one until Christmas Eve since they’re everywhere.”
In fact, I’m willing to bet that Apple’s purposely “managing” this perceived “shortage” to stoke demand. Besides, I don’t see or hear about ANY shortages at any of the 120+ Apple stores.
Good times, goood times…
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Nice that we’re not hearing about folks switching to the iPod killer because they can’t get the real thing. Only a fool would want an alternate product.
A close friend of mine who is PC-only called me over the weekend. This guy is the biggest anti-Mac guy on the planet. He called to ask me about iPod buying advice. Of course I directed him to the 60GB iPod with video capability. He called me today to tell me he got it!
Oh yea. Go Apple!
Yes . . .
[Phil Hartman] Good timessssss . . . [/Phil Hartman]
Regardless of whether or not he writes really good news about Apple, or delivers one of his typical ignorant columns, I’m done listening to anything Troy Wolverton has to say. The guy is clearly an amateur.
Actually Troy’s reporting on Apple has become quite good over the past 6 months or so. When he first began reporting on Apple, he was so w r o n g, so often, that his mail box burst into flames. Ever since, he researches his material much better..
I no longer have a problem with his reporting. All news is factually in error to some degree. Troy’s errors are minor in comparison to his early reporting.
Supply versus demand. Keep supply tight and you never lose money by over extending your inventory. Besides, Steve & Co. keep coming up with new iPods and they must get rid of old inventory.
I’m getting a new black 30g for Christmas!!!!