AAPL up nearly $3

Apple stock on Wednesday rose by nearly $3 to close just above $89, after Morgan Stanley's Rebecca Runkle lifted her price target on the stock from $90 to $110 and raised her 2007 earnings outlook to $3.13 a share from $2.58. Marketwatch reports that Runkle said she anticipates Apple shares trading even higher in 2007 after appreciating almost 20 percent this year. Runkle's optimism, the report said, was based on new products that are expected for next year, including an expanded product portfolio and market-share gains will boost the stock in the coming 12 months. Apple's pre-announced iTV consumer device for streaming video to televisions, a rumored iPhone and perhas an Apple-branded wireless service are among the projected products that Apple is expected to introduce in 2007. "New products introduced in January and less exposure to Microsoft's Vista OS launch could help reduce seasonal risk to Apple's shares," Runkle wrote in a research note obtained by the publication.

Earlier today, analyst firm Piper Jaffray said its analysis of NPD data suggested that Apple may sell up to 16 million iPods this quarter, well short of the 17 million figure (US sales only) estimated by CNBC earlier this week. PJ analyst Gene Munster also said that Mac market share will likely continue to grow in 2007 due to completion of the company's Intel transition, improved availability of Macs, an expanding footprint of Apple customers due to the iPod 'halo effect,' and the ability to run Microsoft Windows on a Mac. Munster also refuted iTunes sales claims--denied by Apple--made by research firm Forester, which claimed that iTunes sales were collapsing.

by MacNN Staff