Tag: merrilllynch

Steven Milunovich, an analyst at Meriill Lynch, said yesterday that Apple is on track to sell 2.68 million iPods in the December quarter–nearly four times high than year-earlier total. “Demand for the music players, which let users download, store and play thousands of songs, made Apple the second-best performing stock in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index this year,” reports Bloomberg.

Following yesterday’s iPod announcements, Merrill Lynch has raised its estimates on Apple. Citing increased iPod shipments, the firm raised the estimate for the fiscal first quarter ending in December to earnings of 42 cents per share on revenue of $2.95 billion, up from earnings of 40 cents per share on revenue of $2.85 billion.

Merrill Lynch said today that Apple is likely to introduce two new iPods by the first half of 2005. “We believe Apple could introduce a flash memory-based iPod in the first quarter of 2005,” the firm said in a research note. “The new iPod would signal a departure from the thinking that an iPod should hold all a person’s songs. We estimate that Apple might be able to charge $149 for a 256 MB (60 song) unit.

Merrill Lynch today reiterated its “buy” rating for Apple, saying it has heard the company is performing well in the higher education market “based on the iPod halo effect, Unix operating system, and brand recognition.” The research firm said it believes the company’s earnings could have upside, due to European music store sales and international iPod sales. Read More

Merrill Lynch analyst Steven Milunovich believes the recently announced alliance between Apple and Motorola is a “net positive for the iPod” and that Apple is beginning to establish itself as the “defacto standard in digital music.” He says in a research note to clients that Apple could become the “Microsoft of music” thanks to iPod and iTunes–and the company’s ability to work with others.

Merrill Lynch has reinstated coverage of Apple with a “buy” rating and a price target of US$29. “We think Apple has gotten its act together in focusing on core markets, building a mature management team and, most important, innovating again. People will pay more for Porsches, but they have to perform,” Merrill Lynch said. The firm projected that Apple’s iPod and iTunes Music Store will account for 9 percent of 2004 sales, but said that percentage should grow in later years.