Lion's AppleWatch

	Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Apple's Macs and iPhones are flying off the shelves. Mac retail sales in the U.S. are up around 26% year-over-year... 1:15:16 PM

Can Apple shares hit $1,000?
Gene Munster, Senior Research Analyst, Piper Jaffray talks with - yuck - Henry Blodget for The Business Insider:

Full article here.
Gene Munster seems bullish on Apple, telling that Henry Blodget at The Business Insider that Apple stock could cross to $1,000 per share. No surprise then that AAPL stock closed at an all-time new high of $215.04 on trading yesterday (up 4.42 percent). Some help too from Apple's imminent tablet release, the color multimedia device which will allow us to browse the Web, listen to music, watch movies and or television shows and also act as an electronic book and newspaper reader, sending Kindle home to the Amazon.
Why will Apple hit these new heights?

Apple can become the global smartphone leader.
Apple can maintain its incredible growth rate.
There's an explosive growth opportunity as products get cheaper.
The app development platform is definitely favoring Apple.
Apple won't crack corporate America, but that's not where the big mobile money is.
Apple's "better positioned than any other hardware company to grow over the next 5 years".
The second clip tells us why Microsoft won't win this time around... Munster explains why, no, Apple is not making what Blodget terms "The 1990s Mistake" all over again with iPhone:
12:43:40 PM

Munster: 2010 The Year of the Mac

Mac sales, not iPhones or the new tablet, will drive near-term gains says a key Apple analyst

Click to enlarge. Sources: Company reports, Apple 2.0 consensus

Throw another 200,000 Macs on the barbie.

Less than a week before Apple's (AAPL) Q1 2010 earnings report, Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster raised his Mac sales estimate Tuesday to 3.1 million from 2.9 million and his price target to $279 from $277.

In a research note entitled "2010 Year of the Mac," Munster cited NPD Group data for the past three months that show Mac sales up 26% year over year.

"Keep in mind," writes Munster, "before the economic slowdown began Mac units were up 30-40% y/y on a quarterly basis. While hype surrounding the expected tablet will be focus of Apple long-term strategy, we believe we will see meaningful near-term upside from the Mac business."

Munster is not the only analyst anticipating a bump in Mac unit sales. Merrill Lynch's Scott Craig raised his Mac estimate Tuesday to 3.2 million from 2.9 million. Last week, Credit Suisse's Bill Shope raised his to 3.28 million from 3.02 million, while Morgan Keegan's Travis McCourt upped his to 3.12 million from 2.88 million.

(McCourt also lowered his iPhone estimate, rather dramatically, from 9.2 million to 7.6 million, anticipating a disappointing Chinese iPhone sales report. Munster is sticking with 9.3 million iPhones and Craig remains "comfortable" with 10 million.)

Below the fold: an updated version of our How many Macs did Apple sell? chart, based on the latest changes.

Analyst, Affiliation Macs (millions) Date of est.

Brian Marshall, Broadpoint AmTech 3.31 1/3/10

Mark Moskowitz, J.P. Morgan 3.29 1/4/10

Bill Shope, Credit Suisse 3.28 1/15/10

Yair Reiner, Oppenheimer Equity Res. 3.21 12/8/09

Ben Reitzes, Barclay's Capital 3.20 1/7/10

Scott Craig, Merrill Lynch 3.20 1/19/10

Deagol, Deagol's AAPL Model 3.18 1/3/10

Doug Reid, Thomas Weisel 3.13 12/28/09

Tavis McCourt, Morgan Keegan 3.12 1/13/10

Peter Misek, Canaccord Adams 3.10 1/3/10

Gene Munster, Piper Jaffray 3.10 1/19/10

Kathryn Huberty, Morgan Stanley 3.09 1/3/10

Turley Muller, Financial Alchemist 3.00 1/4/10

Chris Whitmore, Deutsche Bank 2.96 11/29/09

Shaw Wu, Kauffman Brothers 2.90 12/30/09

Nehal Chokshi, Technology Insights 2.85 1/4/10

Jeff Fidacaro, Susquehanna Financial 2.79 1/6/10

. . . .

See also:

How big was Apple's biggest quarter?

How many iPods did Apple sell?

How many iPhones did Apple sell?

How many Macs did Apple sell?

2:11:37 AM

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