From an Interview in Baron's online today...Mark Baribeau of Loomis Sayles.
Q: Can Apple be a platform? There's talk of the terabyte iPod, and the Mac Mini, and controlling the home multimedia experience.
A: I think clearly Apple's long term vision relates to being a hub in the household. And I think the success in the stock this year is not due to the iPod. The positive earnings surprise this year has been due to their computer business. And the bull case for Apple is that the devices like the iPod [and] the non-virus environment you operate with, the bull case is their computer share will go up.
Q: At a recent price of $68, based on this year's sales of $18 billion, Apple trades at about 3.2x sales. Is it still a buy?
A: It's a stock investors should try and buy on dips. It adds up to about $90 as a 12 month price target. The biggest question for the entire earnings season in January -- there will be two days that matter for the entire stock market, and that will be how many [iPod] Nano's were sold at Christmas, and how were Google's earnings. So, there's always volatility in tech, so investors should try and buy on dips. There will be plenty of opportunities to buy on dips, and investors should look to them.
online.barrons.com |
