Leopard could add $92 mil to Apple Q1 profit

Apple's announcement that it has sold two million copies of Leopard in just four days could have dramatic ramifications for the company's bottom line. According to analysis firm Piper Jaffary, if Apple sells a total of 3.5 million copies in its fiscal first quarter, it could add up to $0.07 per share (or $92 million) to the consensus analyst estimate of $1.53 EPS. This assumes that the Street already had $250 million in Leopard revenue factored into estimates. It also assumes a $115 average selling price and a 60% margin on the software.

Lead analyst Gene Munster also estimates that the Mac user base is now about 23 miillion, saying "From a high level, these numbers show that the Mac user base is growing. It also shows that it is an unusually active use base, with 9% of the ~23m users upgrading in just the first four days." Compared to the Windows user base, Munster said, these numbers demonstrate the Mac's strong brand loyalty, and Apple's ability to sell more frequent operating system upgrades to a larger percentage of its user base.

Piper Jaffray has reiterated its outperform rating on shares of Apple Inc..

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