| | Apple Up; Bear Stearns Says 2Q Could Beat Views...
DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
April 6, 2006 2:39 p.m.
[Andy tries a make-up. Bill]
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By Donna Fuscaldo
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
Shares of Apple Computer Inc. (AAPL) continued to climb Thursday, after Bear Stearns said the company could top analysts' expectations for its fiscal second quarter. The shares recently were up 6.6%.
Apple's stock closed 9.9% higher Wednesday on news the company launched software that enables its new Macintosh computers to run either Windows XP or Apple's operating system.
According to Bear Stearns analyst Andrew Neff, checks with suppliers and continued strong end demand for Apple's iPod media player leads him to believe there's a good chance Apple will report March quarter earnings higher than analysts' expectations.
Neff expects Apple to say it shipped 10.5 million iPod units during the March quarter, which is higher than Wall Street estimates, which Neff said are between 8 million and 9.5 million. The analyst added that concerns about demand for iPods are "misplaced" since demand "remains strong."
As for the June quarter, Neff expects the company to target sequential revenue growth, even though Apple will likely provide a conservative outlook.
"We remain comfortable with our current estimates that call for normal seasonal demand in iPods," said Neff of the June quarter.
In the case of Apple's new software that allows computer users to boot up Windows XP, Neff said Apple's game plan will be to eventually put the Windows operating system on its Mac computers.
Officials at Apple weren't immediately available to comment.
Recently, shares of Apple were up $4.45 to $71.62, on volume of 68 million shares. Average daily volume is 37.3 million. |
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