AppleInsider StaffApple stock is on the rise once again, as analysts raise their target prices and provide support of an iPod 'halo' effect.
"Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster raised his 12-month price target to $100 from $52, citing a survey conducted by his firm showing that Apple's popular iPod digital music players are helping boost sales of its signature Macintosh computers."
In a research note to clients, Munster said that a survey of 200 iPod users in the United States found that 6 percent were formerly PC users who had bought a Mac after buying an iPod. Another 7 percent of the iPod users surveyed said they planned to buy a Mac in the future.
Munster also said that he believes high levels of customer satisfaction with the digital music player will lead to an increase in Apple sales.
"We believe that the remarkable satisfaction with the iPod creates a word-of-mouth wildfire that generates new customer interest in Apple products," he said.
Apple shares jumped $6.61, or 12 percent, to $61.78 in mid-morning trade on the Nasdaq stock market after rising as high as $64 earlier in the session.
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36 Comments
Wow.
Kickaha did you sell at $50 you might just get a bit more for that Ducati
$50 came and went so fast I didn't have a chance!
Seriously, I decided to hold on and see what happened. $50 was my sell point for 'no more good news, same old same old". Well, we've had very good news, and things they are a'changin'. News on the HD-DVD and broadcast formats wrt MPEG-4 and QuickTime's core technologies is *VERY* good. Should create some good markets for Apple in the next two years.
Also note that that $100 target is for a year from now, not next week. Consider that iPod sales are *still* increasing. The analyst took the 13% switcher rate and cut it in half for safety... but still, a 6.5% rate on the estimated 6 million iPods sold this Xmas season results in 390,000 *new* Mac users. That's a nice boost for that quarter, yes?
Also, iTMS is still the leader of the pack for online music, despite every major competitor now having their cards on the table. For a while it was "Oh, Real is going to knock them off", then it was "Ooooh, Sony will stick it to them", and finally "MS will crush them for sure". Um... right. Hasn't happened, doesn't look like it's going to anytime soon. The initial salvo is over, and iTMS is sitting pretty. This plus the creation content end means that Apple has both tech and creds to push for the next big thing in entertainment creation and delivery. I won't presume to know what that is, or what it will look like, but Apple has all the pieces. They've quickly turned into precisely what so many have pleaded with them to be for so long: a software company. Just not the software most people envisioned.
They've leapfrogged MS in the control of basic technologies. MS controlled the OS, and won the PC wars. Apple is poised to control (or at least have best of breed experience for) the very formats that media content is created, delivered, and viewed in. Thank you, QuickTime, iPod, and iTMS.
I'm so jaded that this all sounds too good to be true. But maybe its Apple's turn to shine again. I would love if they just got their butts over the 5% mark.
The analyst took the 13% switcher rate and cut it in half for safety...
The only thing I'm squeamish about, is that a survey of 200 users isn't a hell of a lot. Regardless, the gauntlet has fallen. There better be evidence of a halo effect in Apple's financials in the near future, or the stock will get hammered.
Of course there's a halo effect.
It's not INSTANT, but over the course of the next few years, it's certainly going to be real.
Someone who thinks computer=Microsoft and then loves iTunes and iPod will take Apple a little more seriously as an option to consider next time they buy a computer. Maybe now, but more likely in a year, or two, or three. Maybe the computer after next. But the seed is planted--at a time when people are increasingly fed up with Windows.
You see lots of posts from people saying they got a Mac because they liked their iPod. The halo effect is real, it's just the scale of it that remains unknown.
One good thing--it's not JUST an awareness effect. It's also a branding/coolness effect--something very powerful in these times of consumerism.