Analysts look to the stars for Apple's fourth quarter

Analysts hope that Apple will earn 37 cents per share on $3.72 billion in sales as it delivers its fourth-quarter results on October 11th, and believe that Apple's line of Macintosh computers is gaining strength. Richard Farmer of Merrill Lynch expects Apple's Macintosh revenue to grow 25-percent over the $1.23 billion the desktop and notebook PCs made last year, and attributes the growth to a strong back-to-school selling season where Apple offered a free iPod mini with a computer purchase, according to a report from MarketWatch. Some analysts expect an increase in iPod sales of over 300-percent to 8.5 million players, and after the debut of Apple's iPod nano early last month, retailers such as Best Buy and Circuit City are having trouble keeping Nanos on the shelves, according to the report.

Apple also sent out invitations this week for "one more thing," which is speculated to be a video iPod. Gene Munster, however, noted that Apple needs to be careful about pricing any new iPod, and that it should cost less than $400 and immediately come with a "significant library" of videos through Apple's iTunes service for the device to make as big an impact as the current line of iPods.

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