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AAPL Stock: 441.35 ( + 1.69 )

http://www.macnn.com/articles/06/07/20/needham.on.3rd.quarter/

Analyst notes "blowout" 3rd quarter

updated 12:50 pm EDT, Thu July 20, 2006

 

Needham on 3rd quarter


Needham & Company analyst Charles Wolf today stressed Apple's "blowout" third quarter, raising earnings per share estimates due in part to "stunning" notebook shipments. "Apple got through another quarter of its transition to the Intel processor family," Wolf wrote in a research note obtained by MacNN. "We believe the Power Mac, the only model not running on Intel, will receive its Intel upgrade at the Worldwide Developers Conference on August 7th." Laptop shipments totaled 800,000 -- up 61 percent despite Apple's introduction of the new MacBook halfway through the quarter. "In our opinion [Apple's MacBook is] the best Mac yet in terms of price/performance," Wolf said.

The analyst believes Apple will refocus on its consumer initiative once Labor Day has passed, and that the company could introduce a new iPod model. Wolf also believes Apple could double the capacity of its iPod nano, supporting rumors that the Cupertino-based company will debut an 8GB flash-based iPod, which were based on further NAND flash orders.

The analyst raised his fiscal 2006 GAAP earnings per share estimate from $1.95 to $2.15 and his 2007 estimate from $2.45 to $2.50. Wolf also maintained a buy rating on Apple shares with a $90 price target.


by MacNN Staff

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  1. wings_rfs

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

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    07/20, 02:41pm | report spam | Reply |

    Lost focus?

    "The analyst believes Apple will refocus on its consumer initiative once Labor Day has passed"

    Tell me, when did Apple LOSE its focus on its consumer lineup????

    Once again we are shown why the word ANAL is in analyst.

  1. notehead

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    Joined: Aug 2001

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    07/20, 03:05pm | report spam | Reply |

    what good are analysts?

    I agree completely with wings_rfs.

    So, I gather that analysts believe that most of the time we are supposed to trust their opinions of how a company is doing, because of the incredible depth and scope of their data-gathering and their fabulous intuition. Never mind how often they are simply wrong.

    And THEN we are supposed to be impressed by their grasp of the patently obvious and their regurgitation of widely-released information.

    I don't know who is more foolish, the investors who cling to the words out of the analysts' mouths, or the peoople who pay their salaries.

    Any halfwit could see how fantastic the new laptops are and you're not even capable of that, you could read the glowing reviews in the magazines and online. Obviously Apple will be releasing some excellent new towers in a few weeks and there's no reason to think Leopard will be less than inspiring. You don't need some pompous, secretary-b******, non-creative windbag in an overpriced suit to tell you that AAPL will probably go up to at least 90, probably higher, by mid-September.

  1. jscotta

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    Joined: Jun 2002

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    07/20, 04:33pm | report spam | Reply |

    Analysts

    While, from my position, I generally agree with you. There is a larger group of people who do not follow news sites like MacNN and thus do not know what is happening at Apple. Those people really like to have the opinions of people whose job it is to run some numbers and regurgitate the news with a financial slant that they want and need.

    So, while they are often wrong, they are wrong less than someone who know little or nothing about Apple (or a host of other companies) - like most of their investors.

  1. bigpoppa206

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    Joined: Jun 2003

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    07/20, 04:33pm | report spam | Reply |

    On the other hand...

    the desktop side of things has been lacking for Apple for a while due to the fact that NO ONE wants to buy a PowerMac G5 when we all know new desktops were coming. A lot of us a re waiting (with money in hand) for those new Macs. Once the software transition is complete, I expect even better earnings.

  1. Albert

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: May 2003

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    07/20, 04:48pm | report spam | Reply |

    bigpoppa206

    Also keep in mind how fast the 'old' Apple product line left the supply chain.

    I think this was due to the fact that alot of Macites didn't want to purchase all new softwares or wait for Intel compatibility for all apps. This is the laggards approach and until Adobe get on Intel; Apple wont see the true 'bump' of mac pros who need speed; all is well in Apple land.

    Yes I agree analysts are a bunch o wackers and they should be ignored by all; at least the ones who follow AAPL...

  1. kw99

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Nov 2001

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    07/20, 05:12pm | report spam | Reply |

    jscotta is right

    Some "analysts" and industry "expert commentators" make absurb predictions based on incorrect or incompete knowledge (or sometimes intentionally flawed logic); they should be ridiculed. However, in this case, the analyst is simply summarizing information from the past few days.

    Amazingly, there are people out there for whom Apple Computer is just another PC maker. For them, this information is probably useful, timely, and relevant. Hey, the more non-Mac people know about how well Apple is doing these days, the better the stock will perform. They may even drop by an Apple Store to see what all the fuss is about and help out Apple's bottom line...

  1. Fast iBook

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Mar 2003

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    07/29, 02:27am | report spam | Reply |

    Analysts..

    One of them may have any number of views and such, but when you take the views of several hundred of these uptight, and sometimes spiteful folks, you do actually get to see where the industry is trending etc. They serve a purpose, but releasing their views to the public..... on an individual basis, unless they've been right an amazing % of the time, is a mistake. These people can see apple turning water into wine, and such things. in reality, apple's hardware may see a larger usage of vista in the home/consumer market than the big OEM's. On the business front.... see? Even i can be an analyst. Just take it all with a grain of salt, keep to the facts, and try to have an outlook that doesn't favor one company over another, but one that puts innovation, and furtherment of society and such first, and does it well. Thank you, and goodnight!

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