14 DAY TRIAL // Wall Street analysts are raising their estimates on Apple and Scott Sutherland from Wedbush is leading the pack with a share target price of $530.
And his reasons are obvious: an impending iPhone 5 launch alongside the mid-tier (yet only rumored) iPhone 4S, and the already confirmed iCloud and iOS 5 launches.
“A key part of the Apple story remains new product launches,” said Wedbush analyst Scott Sutherland.
“Along with continued demand for the iPhone 4, Apple is on the verge of launching the iPhone 5, the iPhone 4S for emerging markets, as well as a 4G LTE iPhone and the iPad 3 in the second half of next year,” he wrote.
“With the introductions ahead of the holidays, we expect a monster [December quarter] from Apple,” the Wall Street analyst added.
He believes Apple’s rivals will take huge blows as the Mac maker pours in one new product after another.
He expects no less than 26 million iPhones to be shipped during the December quarter alone.
Moving on to Goldman Sach’s Bill Shope, his estimates on Apple are also a tad higher in the weeks leading up to a potential iPhone 5 event.
Shope has raised his target on Apple to $520 per share, noting that the iPod maker’s momentum seems to be more resistant to macroeconomic pressures than previously thought.
Cited in a Cult of Mac report, Shope estimates that 26.3 million iPhones will be shipped during the next quarter.
Finally, Credit Suisse analyst Kulbinder Garcha fixes a $500 price target for Apple (also raised from previous estimates), saying “[Apple] is only at the cusp of unleashing its vast emerging market potential.”
Apple is expected to hold a media event on October 4.