Tuesday, December 06, 2005

Apple really humming along

Well, I was a doubter about APPL in years past but they have reinvented themselves quite well. Now we have an all-time high in the stock with some recent analyst upgrades. Here is what he said:

"We are excited about the prospects for further revenue contribution from iPods due to what we perceive as a positive mix shift to video iPods," Benjamin Reitzes of UBS said.

The analyst boosted his earnings estimates on the company through fiscal 2007 and lifted his target price for the stock to $86, up from $74 previously, reflecting "Apple's ability to grow rapidly with relatively high margins vs. its peers." Reitzes rates the stock a buy.

That seems pretty doable too. Ipods already have the precieved excess value effect associated with them. That is the ability of consumers to pay more for an item due to its luxury, buzz, or coolness factor. A person will pay more for an Ipod then almost any other video or MP3 player. So those companies have to compete on price while AAPL can compete on coolness.
The stock is in uncharted territory here and priced to perfection. But betting against the reinvented AAPL may be a sucker bet judging on how low the short interest is.

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