Firm says Jobs in the clear from Apple's options scandal

"Although these issues tarnish Apple's squeaky clean image, they do not impact the company's underlying fundamentals," analyst Gene Munster wrote in a note to clients. "As a result, we expect investors to shift their focus to CPU market share gains and strong iPod sales through the upcoming holiday season."

In his summary of the backdating fallout, the analyst noted that 150 companies are in the midst of either internal or external option related investigations. Thus far, 9 CEOs have resigned and at least 27 executives or directors have left companies due to investigations, he said.

According to Munster, the reasons for the various CEOs departures vary from: "CEO taking role as a fall guy" to situations involving CEOs purposefully covering up options backdating.

In the case of Apple, he wrote, "We believe Jobs is in the clear, given Jobs was aware of these grant dates but was not aware of the accounting treatment and did not benefit from them."

"Apple concluded its internal options investigation and found no misconduct by any current members of the management team," he added. "As a result of the investigation findings, former Apple CFO Fred Anderson has resigned from the board of directors and Apple will likely restate its financials."

Apple is expected to offer some final remarks on the accounting issues that led to its options investigation during a conference call proceeding the release of fiscal fourth quarter results this afternoon.