With Apple (AAPL) set to report quarterly earnings next Tuesday, analysts are dusting off their spreadsheets, taking a second look at the numbers, and making adjustments — mostly upward.
On Friday, it was Morgan Stanley and J.P. Morgan Securities’ turn.
The J.P Morgan team, led by Mark Moskowitz, raised most of his Apple estimates, including
- Price target (to $167.50 from $155),
- Q3 earnings estimate (to $1.23 a share from $1.12)
- iPhone unit sales (to 4.34 million from 3.88 million)
- and Mac unit sales (2.50 million from 2.13 million)
Morgan Stanley’s Huberty, whose sentiments about Apple tend to go hot and cold, made some even more dramatic adjustments.
Given the early launch of the iPhone 3GS, the “resulting pull forward of demand,” and supply chain checks that show iPhone builds coming in higher than expected, she raised her estimate of Q3 iPhone unit sales nearly 43%, to 5.0 million from 3.5 million.
Huberty’s revised Q3 revenue estimate ($8.3 billion) is in line with the consensus ($8.16 billion), as reported by Thomson Financial Network.
Moskowitz’s estimated EPS ($1.23) beats the Street’s ($1.16) by 6%.
Apple shares closed Thursday at $147.52, up 1.2% for the day.
