To $200 and Beyond

Posted by: Arik Hesseldahl on December 26, 2007

With less than an hour to go in today’s trading session, Apple’s stock now looks firmly above the $200 level, and even came within a nickel of $201 today. There’s no specific Apple news, nor even an major analyst comments today to spur the stock, but there is considerable buzz about Apple’s prospects in the new year.

First and foremost, there are high expectations surrounding Steve Jobs’ MacWorld Expo keynote on on Jan. 15. The buzz, as you’ve probably read here and elsewhere, is surrounding a new ultra-portable MacBook, or perhaps a tablet device of some kind, that would logically fit somewhere between a notebook and an iPhone. Then there’s speculation that there could be some word about 3G-ready iPhone. (I actually don’t expect to hear about at Macworld, but that’s just my opinion; Instead I expect to hear iPhone details separately in February or March, that is assuming Apple doesn’t plan to release a new iPhone before June.)

There’s also earnings: When it reports Q1-2008 earnings Apple’s expected to report nearly $10 billion in sales this quarter, and $1.57 per share in earnings, though as I wrote earlier this month forecasting Apple’s results can be a little tricky.

And all the indications are that the news will be pretty good. Just take a look at Peter Kafka’s observations about Christmas at the Apple store over at Silicon Alley Insider. Today Soleil Research released holiday sales survey results showing that the top holiday gifts were the iPod, Guitar Hero, and Nintendo Wii. Generally consumer technology sales were strong, Soleil says and should beat expectations that had been pretty cautious. Too bad the rest of the retail sector can’t say the same thing, but that’s how it goes.

Update: Looks like I spoke too soon. Apple stock pulled back late in the session to close at $198.95 a bare 105 cents short of the $200 line, finishing the day 15 cents higher than Monday. However it did trade briefly as high as $200.96. Ah well. Tomorrow’s another trading day.

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