Another Record High, and an Upgrade

Posted by: Arik Hesseldahl on November 23, 2005

I hate to pull out such a trite mid-1990s reference, but Apple Computer’s stock price looks a little like the Energizer Bunny…going and going and going, setting one record high after another, day after day. Tuesday it closed at $66.52 and today investors, with visions of iPod sales dancing in their heads, investors have pushed it up another buck and change to $67.70 with a little more than two hours left before the close. Look here to check the latest price.

Just when you think it’s peaked and should start leveling off, the upgrades start coming.

Analyst Joel Wagonfeld with First Albany Capital today revised his target price on Apple from $66 to $73. The move he says in a research note, “reflects our belief that recent and upcoming developments will enable further upward estimate revisions and sustain the stock’s recent momentum.” He sees Apple’s securing a steady supply of NAND flash memory as good news, indicating that demand for iPods remain strong (as if you had to guess). He also likes the news that Tivo will support playing recorded TV shows on the new iPod as furthering demand for the new player.

He also likes the persistent rumors that an Intel-based notebook is on deck for introduction at Steve Jobs’ Macworld Expo keynote in January. He also says that demand for Apple computer doesn’t seem to have dropped since Jobs announced the switch to Intel chips. “We believe any ‘pre-Intel’ pause in demand for Apple computers has been less than feared,” he says.

He’s also pegged Apple’s fiscal year 2006 revenue at $17.9 billion and fiscal 2007 at nearly $21 billion.

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