“Brian Marshall, the new man on the Apple (AAPL) beat at American Technology Research, this morning officially picked up coverage of the stock – and joined the recent parade of cautious commentary on the stock,” Eric Savitz blogs for Barron’s.
“Marshall launches coverage with a Neutral rating and a $95 price target. He sees earnings for the September 2009 fiscal year of $4.87 a share, below the Street consensus of $5.22,” Savitz reports. “(He takes over from Shaw Wu, who now covers the company for Kaufman Bros.)”
Savitz reports, “Marshall isn’t bearish on the company’s business prospects. He says the company is ‘arguably the best growth story in the technology sector today,’ and continues to deliver hit products like the iPod, the MacBook and the iPhone. He says design prowess is certainly a competitive advantage for the company, ‘but perhaps more impressive have been the company’s efforts to create user friendly software and ecosystems.'”
Savitz reports, “That said, he is convinced that the Street’s earnings expectations are too high. For starters, he notes that as the economy softens, consumers will become more price conscious and shift to less expensive consumer electronics products going forward.”
MacDailyNews Take: Blah, blah, blah, more baseless conjecture. We don’t base our investments on conjecture. We prefer to consider more concrete information:
• Apple Mac surges as PC demand shrinks; 1 in 3 buyers plan to buy Apple Mac in next 90 days – December 10, 2008
• NPD: New MacBook family fuels 28% YOY surge in October Apple Mac sales – November 18, 2008
• ChangeWave: 33% of notebook buyers, 27% of desktop buyers plan to buy Apple Mac in next 90 days – November 10, 2008
• Apple increases its lead in teenage mindshare; 30% plan iPhone purchase within 6 months – October 08, 2008
• NPD: Apple iPhone 3G is #1 smartphone in U.S.; AT&T big beneficiary – October 06, 2008
• ChangeWave: Apple Mac planned purchases for next 90 days hit new all-time high – September 15, 2008
• College students buying Macs in record numbers – August 28, 2008
Savitz continues reporting what some new, random analyst supposedly “thinks” about Apple in his full post here.
Who is AmTech when they’re at home? I used to have a camera made by Amtech.
Sha Wu was, for the most part, on the mark. AmTech’s customers will miss out on a lot of money-making oportunities with AAPL if they listen to this new guy.
I don’t recall exactly when it occurred, but around 2002-03, it seemed that analysts were deliberately dumping on AAPL despite huge growth in the business as a way of getting little guy investors out. I have no proof, but we do get to see what happened for the 5 years after that. Huge gains, much of it to institutional investors.
My spidey sense is going off again.
$95 and neutral. Safe, meaningless ‘me-too’ entry into AAPL coverage.
Move along…no news here…