“Shares of Apple rose Wednesday more than 1% after Needham & Co. analyst Laura Martin initiated coverage of the stock with a strong buy rating,” Kat McKerrow reports for TheStreet. “‘Shakespeare would insist that Apple should not be valued like a hardware company if its fundamentals are better than world-class content and Internet companies,’ she wrote in a research note.”
“Apple doesn’t need to release a hit gadget every year. Instead, the company just has to focus on working off what it already has: ‘sequels,'” McKerrow reports. “And when it does release a hit, sales and profits skyrocket.”
“Wall Street doesn’t know how to correctly value Apple’s stock, and it is being priced as if it were a computer hardware company, Martin wrote,” McKerrow reports. “When each of Apple’s new releases isn’t a mega-hit, shares drop. However, Martin wrote that the shares should instead be priced as if Apple were an entertainment conglomerate. Martin set a price target of $150 for Apple’s stock, but wrote that it could go as high as $180 a share, which would represent 60% upside.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: From Martin’s keyboard to Mr. Market’s ears.