Forbes is reporting that Piper Jaffray maintained an “outperform” rating on Apple with a US$52 price target, citing the company’s improved production efficiency and strong demand. “Apple is continuing to improve production efficiency as supported by the fact that most products are being shipped on the same business day as the day of the order placement,” the research firm said. In addition, Forbes notes that iPods now hold eight of the top ten spots and 12 of the top 20 for MP3 players, up from four and six, respectively, on April 22.