Analysts remain upbeat on Apple, downplay concerns

"The recent stock action reminds us of a lull period last year from March to June 2005 when the stock corrected from $45 to $33, said Shaw Wu, an analyst for American Technology Research. "Interestingly, negative investor sentiment drove the stock weakness with comments and questions including: 'it can't get better', 'has Apple peaked?', and 'is growth slowing?' similar to ones we are hearing today."

"We believe the answers to these questions remain the same and it is that Apple has yet to see its best," Wu added.

Over the next 12-24 months, the analyst expects to see a Mac upgrade cycle of Intel Macs, continued penetration of iPod+iTunes in digital music and video, and an extension of both the Mac and iPod+iTunes franchises into new business areas such as home entertainment servers, cell phones, and other consumer electronics.

"We view this as a great opportunity to take advantage of this lull period to build or add to Apple positions," Wu said. "We believe a key metric to watch remains its progress in transitioning to Intel processors."

Gene Munster, an analyst for PiperJaffray, offered similar sentiments on Tuesday.

"We believe the stock has sold off primarily based on investor perception regarding the potential for an air pocket in growth over the next 1-2 quarters due to the Intel transition," Munster wrote in a research note obtained by AppleInsider. "Many investors are concerned that growth from existing Macs will slow as customers wait for new Macs and many also anticipate that the transition will be drawn out on the professional side by a lack of readiness from major software vendors such as Quark, Microsoft, and Adobe."

The analyst argues that Apple has, and will continue to have, various growth curves in different parts of its business that sometimes may not be in sync with eachother. "To look at a potential short-term trough in these curves and extrapolate the business based on this period is short-sighted in our minds," he said.

In support of his beliefs, Munster pointed out how a lot of investors were originally concerned about Apple's transition from the iPod mini to the iPod nano. However, with the addition of the video iPod, the company was able to align two growth curves that ultimately generated massive unit volume increases post-mini, he said.

Similarly, investors are concerned about a slowdown entering the Intel transition, Munster said. "We believe a slight air pocket is inevitable in front of all new product releases, but this scenario is factored into Mac estimates and we do not believe the transition will lead to Apple missing numbers."

Just like Wu, Munster agrees that Apple shares should inevitably reposition themselves.

"We see now as the time to get positioned for the next peak as Apple's various growth curves get closer to aligning themselves again," he wrote.

Apple shares have fallen over 20 percent in less than three weeks. The stock was trading up 39 cents, or 0.58 percent, at press time.