“Thomas Weisel Partners upgraded Apple Inc. Monday, saying the company’s current share price severely discounts long-term growth potential,” The Associated Press reports.
“The firm also said the risk that 2008 results will disappoint has faded,” AP reports. “Analyst Doug Reid moved his rating to ‘Overweight’ from ‘Market Perform’ and raised his price target to $195 from $188.”
“‘Over the next few years, we expect Apple to maintain above-peer operating margins, preserve its fierce brand loyalty and set a foundation for accelerating market share gains,’ Reid said in a note to clients,” AP reports.
“He raised his 2008 earnings forecast to $5.23 per share from $5.03 per share. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expect, on average, earnings of $5.13 per share,” AP reports. “Shares of the Cupertino, Calif., company rose $2.42 to $155.50 in premarket trading Monday.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Mike in Helsinki” for the heads up.]
Absolutely nothing – zero, zilch, nada – has changed since Apple smashed The Street with record quarterly earnings and provided their usual conservative guidance. Apple is exactly the same company and continues firing on all cylinders. Perhaps this most-recent season of irrational pessimism over AAPL is finally coming to a close. AAPL second fiscal quarter earnings are due to be reported on Wednesday, April 23, 2008 at 2pm PDT / 5pm EDT.
Hmmm, I wonder what research this is based on. I mean, I could say the same thing myself, but it would be based on nothing more than a gut feeling….. Do these guys actually base their forecasts off hard data, or not?
If not, then I’m gonna start my own company!
While I like seeing this kind of news, I maintain that most of these guys practice dart board analysis. I think they just follow the trend rather than actually analyzing anything. The stock takes a dip and they all lower their forecast. Then the stock starts going back up and they all say “hello hello, what do we have here?”, and raise their forecast. Kind of like the Keystone Cops of the financial world maybe.
“Kind of like the Keystone Cops of the financial world maybe.”
But without the charm and skillful slapstick choreography.
@ Wish I Was Here
Unfortunately this is how financial markets work! So you buy when the stock takes a dip, of course only if the company has good results, and sell later at a higher price. this is what happened with Apple… good results but the stock takes a plunge because the market goes down.
I’m quite happy now… I bought 20 shares at 129.69 at the end of January, I wish I could have bought more…
My only point is that these guys aren’t giving any kind of insight into what might actually happen in the future, they’re only reacting to what is happening now. Because they see that the people are selling the stock, and the stock price is dropping, they say ‘I believe the stock will go lower’, then the opposite when they see people buying the stock. This makes them ‘reporters’, not ‘analysts’. I don’t have a problem with that, just don’t present yourself as some sort of financial guru who knows all….
i think they have no idea what they are talking about. they just follow the market. apple is going up now, that’s why they raise their forcast. (gene munster seems the only one with a long term view, he sticked to his $250 forecast even during the downturn of the last 3 months) though it is always psychological difficult to go against the trend, it mostly pays out (provided the company you are interested in is in good shape). bought 250 more shares at 122. thank you very much.
Some analysis. Not a word about Microsoft’s revolutionary Zune taking a huge bite out of Apple’s I-Pod business? A little history for you MAC lemmings: Apple lost to Microsoft, essentially gave up the computer business and is now solely an MP3 player maker. Apple’s foolish foray into mobile phones is another story. Problem is their I-Pods with their tired, dated designs have been passed up by the remarkable innovations Microsoft offers with the Zune.
The elephant in the room is Zune and nobody has the guts to say anything about it. At some point investors have to take notice, because the “analysts” don’t get it.
Your potential. Our passion.™
C’mon AAPL! Daddy is still in the red!
Oh, Laura Goldman!!! Where are you Laura Goldman?!?
Wow! This place is just like ZDnet!! Has it’s own M$ shills and everything! Just read the delusional spew that gets posted here whenever there’s some good news about Apple. At first, it was just funny watching you retards fight, since only morons fight on internet forums. Now, it’s just a yawner.
I stopped reading that site because of these shills, and I’m going to do the same here. Yet another sensationalist site with shills to up ad revenue. But hey… whatever works. Preying on suckers who feel they have to “debate” (loosely defined) to one-up each other works just as well as providing concise, accurate, and non-sensationalistic news.
Aidos, douches!
Thank you, atari, for the kind words. You will fondly be in our thoughts forever.
Good luck.
Your potential. Our passion.™
These anal-yst maroons are out to make more profit from the gullible investors who flip-flop on stock news.
@atari…”I stopped reading that site because of these shills, and I’m going to do the same here.”
I assume this will be the last garbage post we will hear from you?
Yeah, @atari . . . (if you’re still here, and let us, one an all, hope you’re not)
Your financial acumen is astonishing! Five years ago MSFT was $26 per share, today $29! Great Zeus, let me be a shill for that rockin’ company in the future. Five years ago AAPL was $13 per share, today $158. How DARE we “shills” posit anything on the upside for this incredible company?!
Your intellect and insight will be sorely missed here, but we’ll do our best to go on.
F’n Zune Tang! My coffee shot into my sinuses laughing over, “The elephant in the room is Zune and nobody has the guts to say anything about it.” What a fabulous line. I love you, man.
MDN says “Absolutely nothing – zero, zilch, nada – has changed since Apple smashed ” and they are wrong.
What has changes is that the powers that run wall street have gotten the shares of Apple that they want, and now we can run the price way up.
Nuff said.
Before the dip I had less than 1000 shs, now I have almost 1700, because I was able to sell a portion of my investment near the top, and buy more close to the bottom. Thanks!