Here is your daily Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) stock news and rumors for October 5, 2010. In case you need more reason to believe the Apple iPad is the best thing since sliced bread, a report indicates the tablet could be the hottest selling gadget in history. And if you believe a Ticonderoga analyst, AAPL stock is headed to $430 at year’s end in large part due to the iPad and other electronics selling well over the holidays.
Apple Stock Could Hit $430 Following Strong Holiday Sales: Last summer, as the iPhone 4 and iPad sold out repeatedly, market analysts began predicting massive target prices for APPL shares at the end of the 2010 fiscal year. Apple shares, which are trading at around $287 today, could hit lifetime highs of $330 by April 2011. Not anymore, according to Brian White of Ticonderoga Securities. A new 85-page note on Apple Inc issued to analysts yesterday now predicts a $430 12-month target price for the stock. White sees Apple’s momentum in the consumer market coupling with their continuing gains in the enterprise market to dramatically increase the company’s already massive value in the coming year. The report also predicts 7.1 million iPads by the end of the fiscal year, with 19.9 million iPads sold in 2011, and 25.8 million in 2012. The iPhone will also see dramatic sales increases over the next few years, with 49.1 million Apple smartphones sold in 2011 and 71.1 by the end of 2013.
iPad Set to Become Fastest Selling Device in History: Watch out DVD player. AAPL’s iPad is closing in on your record. In a note to investors, Bernstein Research analyst Colin McGranahan said that the iPad is on course to become the 4th biggest consumer electronics category by the end of 2011. That’s category not product. With $9 billion in estimated sales, the iPad would only be outsold by televisions, smartphones, and notebook PCs, and that’s all by itself. It is possible that the iPad will beat out the collective sales of all cellular phones and all video game consoles. The world’s favorite tablet computer is selling, by Bernstein Research’s estimates, at a pace of 4.5 million units per quarter, making it the fastest selling consumer electronics device since the DVD player. This is great news for Apple’s shareholders, but investors with interests in the notebook PC, digital camera, and television markets should be worried by the iPad’s success. Bernstein’s report also concludes that the tablet is eroding sales in all of those categories as it moves more units.
New Sharp Smartphone Matches iPhone Retina Display Resolution: The iPhone 4 isn’t the best-looking phone on the block. Apple may still dominate with its phone’s form factor, but Sharp has a new smartphone whose screen is just as nice as the iPhone 4’s lauded Retina Display. The new Sharp IS03 has a 3.5-inch screen with the same 960 X 640 display resolution as Apple’s newest phone. The display uses Sharp’s new Advanced Super View technology that is supposed to be similar to Apple’s In-Plane Switching tech in the iPhone 4. Sharp’s phone will use Google‘s (NASDAQ: GOOG) Android operating system and feature a 9.6 megapixel camera. Unfortunately for smartphone buyers in the United States, the Sharp IS03 is only planned for Japan, supported by carrier KDDI au. Investors trading in the Japanese market should take note.
As of this writing, Anthony Agnello did not own a position in any of the stocks named here.
12 Little-Known Stocks That Will Lead the Mobile Internet Revolution. All my research and proprietary stock picking tools are ringing loud and true right now — mobile Internet is one of the biggest money-making opportunities out there. And these stocks are about to take the Street by storm. Get their names here.
