Apple shares flirt with $300 mark

“Apple Inc.’s stock flirted with $300 Tuesday as investors high on the iPad’s promise pushed shares to a record peak. Analysts see few reasons to believe shares will stop there,” Jessica Mintz reports for The Associated Press.

“As was the case with the iPhone, Apple’s iPad is setting the standards for this generation of tablet computers as competitors scramble to match the design and functions,” Mintz reports.

MacDailyNews Take: As was also the case with iPod, iTunes, iTunes Store, Mac OS X, the Mac, and the Apple ][.

Mintz continues, “So far, no credible challengers have hit the market… In the first quarter it was available, Apple sold 3.3 million iPads… Rajesh Ghai, an analyst for ThinkEquity LLC, said he believes Apple sold 5.7 million iPads in the most recent quarter, which ended in September. He said that adds about $3 billion in revenue — not bad for a product category that didn’t exist before April. Analysts’ estimates for iPad unit sales in 2011 are in flux, with those on the conservative end putting the number around 20 million while more bullish forecasters say it could be 50 million.”

“Shares in Apple traded as high as $299.50 Tuesday before ending the day at $298.54, a gain of $3.18,” Mintz reports. “Apple’s shares have climbed sharply and fairly steadily since the end of the dot-com bust, from about $7 per share in early 2003.”

Full article here.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Fred Mertz” and “Brawndo Drinker” for the heads up.]