Apple yesterday evening released its fiscal Q4 earnings which were well above analyst estimates. Revenue growth was 32% at $4.84bn and net profit was $546M, a 11% net margin.
iPod sales were up 35% (8.7M units) and Macintosh sales up by 30% (1.6M units). This again was significantly higher than what analysts had anticipated. Even Shaw Wu, an Apple bull, had forecasted 8.5M iPods and 1.4M Macs only. In its fiscal '06, Apple has sold close to 40M iPods and 5.3M Macs, while they were in the PowerPc - Intel transition, which is truly a performance ! In a PC industry now more or less static, it means that Apple has tremendously increased its market share.
As a result, Apple stock was rising 6% in after hours trading, just shy of $80. My $75 target (set in July when the stock was around $50) is easily topped and Apple is now en route to my 6 month $100 target I set 3 weeks ago...
I was bullish on Apple 3 months ago and I still am as nothing has changed regarding fundamentals : the company is ideally positioned on many fast growing markets and will undoubtely benefit from those. It's almost a no brainer, but as a matter of fact the stock is now 50% more expensive than what it was 3 months ago...
Apple will enter the huge mobile phone market early 2007 and I bet it will have a killer. How about also the promising iTV (code name, see here) ? How about its video on demand service gaining speed with many more studios signing deals ? 2007 should be another great and exciting year for Apple.
For many reasons, I'm deeply thrilled by 2007 perspectives...
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