Not everybody is down on Apple because of the antenna problem with its new iPhone 4.
JP Morgan Chase analyst Mark Moskowitz thinks the stock will soar 57 percent to $400 by December 2011. That’s what he wrote in a note to investors obtained by Business Insider.
Apple shares recently traded at $254.
“While the media-driven frenzy over the iPhone 4 antenna issue is not likely to fade yet, we believe Apple's quarterly performance should restore focus back on the model's high-growth stature,” Moskowitz wrote.
Apple posted record revenue of $15.7 billion in its fiscal third quarter ended June 26. Its earnings-per-share of $3.51 beat analysts’ consensus estimate by 11 percent.
Moskowitz believes the company’s forecast of 35 percent gross profit margins for the fourth fiscal quarter is conservative, thanks to the strength of Apple’s new products.
“The ramps of iPad and iPhone 4 platforms should achieve greater economies of scale,” he wrote.
And that’s why Moskowitz is bullish.
“We reiterate our overweight rating and increase our December 2011 price target to $400 from $390,” he wrote.
“At 13.9 times our revised 2011 earnings-per-share estimate, we believe Apple is trading like a value stock and not as the high-growth story.”
Others are enthusiastic about Apple in the wake of third-quarter earnings too.
"The numbers are spectacular," Shaw Wu of Kaufman Brothers told MarketWatch. "They were able to post very strong results despite an inventory drawdown on the iPhone 4.”
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