AAPL en fuego

Don't discount the "buy on rumor" effect. It's less than 2 weeks now til WWDC. I'll likely hold onto the rest of my shares til the bizday before.<BR><BR>wco81: I've never noticed AAPL to correlate to Qs, It's a very newsy and volatile stock, but let us know if you find a trend there.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Scud:<BR>I don't think Sony has the resources to buy out Apple at this point. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE><BR>Reality never stopped this rumor before!

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Nevyn:<BR>The stockholders have authorized a 'poison pill' provision, which makes APPL a more expensive buyout if I understand correctly also. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE><BR><BR>There was a poison pill in the early days of Jobs2, the details of which are murky now and I recall it ultimately expired (something to do with their Tax rates post-"beleagured"?) but I've not heard of a more recent one. Got details?

Another Mac supeprcomputing cluster may lift AAPL share's tomorrow along with First Albany's raised estimates based on iPod growth.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by johnsonwax:<BR> I don't see $35 necessarily either. Last sale was back when we were in the 50s. For the daring, AAPL options plays can be pretty lucrative given the timing of their announcements if you can work things out, but boy-howdy it's not for the weak of stomach and you can lose your shirt if you get it wrong. Last year's WWDC was damn generous, but it's been a lot more difficult since then. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE><BR><BR>Well Merrill Lynch just raised their target to $39 today. From the private report, sorry no linkies. <BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Highlights: <BR>'¢ We believe CEO Steve Jobs may introduce a new iMac at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference next week in San Francisco. The other Macs have recently received updates; now it is iMac's turn. <BR>'¢ Apple's recent introduction of the iTunes Music Store in the U.K., France, and Germany dovetails with the iPod Mini going international in July. Expectations were for a U.K.-only launch, so France and Germany were a bit of a surprise. <BR>'¢ Apple continues to add products around the iPod. The new AirPort Express allows iTunes music to be played wirelessly on home stereos. Now it appears Apple will be going after the automotive market in teaming with Alpine and BMW. <BR>'¢ We are raising our iPod estimates slightly. We have raised our unit estimates from 851,000 to 900,000 for the June quarter and from 1.0 million to 1.1 million for September. Our June EPS estimate remains at $0.15 and September is raised a penny to $0.18. <BR>'¢ We also are raising out F2006 estimates from $8.88 billion in sales and $0.79 EPS to $9.02 billion and $0.82 EPS. Our higher estimates are based on 14% top line growth rather than 12%. <BR>'¢ We rate Apple a Buy and are increasing our price objective from $32 to $39 per share. The $39 price objective equates to an EV/Sales of 1.3X, between Dell's and HP's ratios. Near term, we view Apple as a momentum-driven stock depending on rising earnings estimates. <BR>'¢ We think there is less chance for an upside surprise this quarter than the next two. iPod Minis are still only sold in the U.S., and European efforts are just starting. Risks include the creative market not upgrading, continued PC share loss, and increasing iPod competition. <BR><BR>More from M L - <BR><BR>The flat panel iMac is due for an update, having gone 27 months in the current form factor. Normally a major upgrade comes along every 18 to 24 months. Apple even mentioned this in its March 10-Q, which stated 'The current flat panel iMac and eMac form factors are approximately 2 years old, which continue to contribute to declining net sales.' The iMac is the only computer left to update. Apple updated its laptops on April 19 with speed bumps for both the Power Book and iBook. On June 9 Apple announced its new 2.5 GHz G5 Power Macs. Although there could be some iPod enhancements, it is the iMac that needs the performance boost. If Apple were to update its iMac form factor, we could see it separating the CPU from the display. With today's flat panel iMac, if a PC user switches to the Mac they likely already have a display while an Apple would make him buy another. We believe a low-end iMac without the display could be beneficial to Apple's desire to attract switchers. <BR> <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Piper Jaffray upped their target for AAPL to 40 (from $32) today, and raised their "market perform" rating to "market outperform," saying the street is underestimating Apple's digital convergence opportunities, which they believe will spark underlying demand for Mac products and create momentum among AAPL investors.<BR>http://finance.yahoo.com/q/ud?s=AAPL<BR><BR>AAPL traded in the pre market this morning above 34, but is falling now after the open. Profit-taking may continue now, but it's hard to say whether the runup will continue after the usual "sell on news" phenom. WWDC announcements could just as well spark new and continued interest, especially with the earnings announcement for the June quarter coming up in just a few weeks.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by BadAndy:<BR>SJ did the WWDC show with no new hardware other than 30" cinema displays. My guess is that this is a cold fire-hose of water. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE><BR><BR>AAPL investing 101: New hardware almost never moves the stock anywhere but downward. It's invariably the _anticipation_ of new hardware that drives it upward. It's classic "buy the rumor, sell the news." Anticipation (read rumors) for new iMacs remain and that'll likely keep some profit-takers from doing their thing.