Apple seen topping US$1,000 this year
Not that Apple Inc. (AAPL/NASDAQ) needs the help, but analysts continue to find complimentary things to say about it, including forecasts the tech giant’s shares will cross the US$1,000 threshold by the end of the year.
Shares of the near-ubiquitous consumer electronics maker surged to
a new intraday high of US$632.21, up some 2% on the Nasdaq Tuesday after analysts became even more bullish. Apple closed Tuesday at US$629.32.
Brian White, an analyst at Topeka Capital Markets, on Monday bumped his 12-month price target to US$1,001, because of strong demand for the next iphone, expansion into China and an eventual entry into the TV market. Apple has the potential to reach Us$1-trillion in revenue within the next decade, he said.
Its generally smooth transition to new chief executive Tim Cook after the death of co-founder Steve Jobs has also inspired investor confidence.
“Steve Jobs’s health was such a fear that was hanging over the stock,” Mr. White said in an interview with Bloomberg. “Now you’ve seen that Tim Cook is doing a good job.”
Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray was slightly less bullish, saying in a note Apple’s stock could hit US$1,000 by 2014. He raised his current 12-month
price target to US$910 from US$718.
Mark Moskowitz, an IT hardware analyst at Jpmorgan Chase & Co., also raised his price target on Apple, to US$715 from US$625 (he was already overweight on the stock).
“Our research indicates that the iphone and ipad shipment activity in the supply chain implies major upside potential to our previous estimates,” he said. “We are not trying to inflate expectations.”
He boosted his quarterly outlook to Us$39.1-billion in revenue and US$10.80 in earnings per share, compared with Us$34.9-billion in revenues and EPS of US$9.42.
For the year, he now forecasts
revenues of almost Us$170-billion with earnings of US$47.22 a share.
He also anticipates Apple will introduce Microsoft Office to the ipad, opening it to the enterprise PC segment.