Tag: piper-jaffray

Contrary to a Forrester Research report on weak iPod sales in the first half of this year, Piper Jaffray says that “iTunes has shown “strong growth,” reports Reuters.

Gene Munster, an analyst with Piper Jaffray, has “maintained an ‘outperform‘ rating on Apple and raised his price target and earnings estimates for the company based on this week’s announcements at MacWorld and expectations for market share gains for both Mac and iPod through continued product innovation,” reports Forbes.

Gene Munster, an analyst with Piper Jaffray, said that checks of Apple specialist stores show that most are experiencing stronger holiday sales this year than last year, reports Forbes.

Piper Jaffray has said that Apple is its top recommended large capitalization stock for the remainder of this year, reports MarketWatch. The research firm cites expectations of the introduction of several new products “Apple’s domination in digital music is a critical piece to the story, be we don not believe iPod is the only growth avenue for the company,” said analyst Gene Munster in a research note to clients.

Research Firm Piper Jaffray has reiterated an “outperform” rating and US$52 target price on Apple, saying there may be upside to calendar 2006 estimates based on the success of iTunes, reports Forbes. “We are currently modeling for iTunes revenue to account for 5% of revenue in calendar 2006,” Piper said in the story, adding that “Apple could realize incremental earnings-per-share of 2 cents in 2006 based on an iTunes operating margin of 5%.

Reasearch firm Piper Jaffray maintained an “outperform” rating and US$52 target price on Apple, saying it expects the fiscal third quarter to be up slightly from the second quarter, reports Forbes. “The bottom line from our checks is that while we are not expecting significant upside to June quarter numbers, Apple’s business appears to be solid in what is typically a seasonally slower period,” Piper Jaffray said.

Demand for Macs and iPods remains strong, according to Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster. “We believe that Apple’s product availability continues to improve as evidenced by the shorter lead times for many products, particularly for both versions of the Mac mini and the PowerBook G4,” Munster said in a research note obtained by MacMinute. “While critics of the AAPL story will suggest greater product availability represents a slowing demand environment, we disagree.

Piper Jaffray expects Apple to gain share in the PC market over the next two to three years. The firm cited the iPod halo effect, “continuous innovation leading to highly functional products at realistic price points,” and security and performance issues for Windows PCs. “It is important for investors to keep in mind that minimal upside to Mac market share estimates could have a significant impact on Apple’s overall results,” Piper Jaffray said.

Following a survey of 30 Apple Stores and 20 Apple resellers, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster said that demand for Apple’s main products remains strong. “Our checks have left us more confident that demand for Apple’s key products (most notably iMac, Powerbook, Mac mini and various versions of the iPod) continue to be ahead of expectations (exception is Power Mac),” Munster said in a research note.

Piper Jaffray said today that Apple’s iTunes Music Store could begin to have a “notable” earnings impact in calendar 2005 and 2006. “We are currently modeling for iTunes revenue to account for 3.6% of revenue in calendar 2006,” the research firm said. Piper Jaffray said iTunes downloads for 2005 could reach 513 million versus the current estimate of 387 million, and 2006 iTunes downloads could reach 1 billion versus the current estimate of 542 million.

Piper Jaffray on Monday maintained an “outperform” rating for Apple and said valuation of the stock is “not outrageous based on three-year historical average.” The firm said shares are currently trading at 34 times the 2006 earnings-per-share forecast of $2.40 while the average forward price-to-earnings multiple for Apple has been 43 times.

In a research note to clients Friday, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster said the iPod still has no equal, despite a number of new entries coming from CES this week. “After the introduction of a handful of new portable audio devices yesterday at CES, we believe that the iPod is still in position to dominate this market,” Munster said. “Of the other players looking to chip away at Apple’s market share, Creative is gaining the most traction with its Creative Zen Micro. We believe that Creative may have had the most crowded booth at CES.