J.P. Morgan raises Apple 2Q 2011 estimates to $24.42bln

PanARMENIAN.Net - Ahead of Apple's quarterly earnings call on Apr. 20, investment bank J.P. Morgan has raised its projections of Apple's earnings through 2012 in expectation of continued growth from the iPhone and iPad.

J.P. Morgan analyst Mark Moskowitz issued a note to investors early Friday, April 15, with the revised estimates, reiterating the firm's Dec. 2011 price target of $450 and Overweight rating of Apple. Moskowitz raised his projections for Apple's EPS for the second quarter of fiscal 2011 to $5.39, up from $5.21 and increased his revenue estimate for the March quarter from $23.83 billion to $24.42 billion. According to him, the Street consensus for the quarter stands at $23.26 billion in revenue and $5.38 EPS.

By comparison, in the first quarter of fiscal 2011, which included the retail-heavy holiday season, Apple reported a record $26.74 billion in revenue. In the year ago quarter, Apple beat Wall Street expectations with $13.5 billion in revenue.

While cautioning that "the law of large numbers stands to diminish the relative magnitude of earnings beats exhibited in years past," Moskowitz noted that Apple's growth trends "will be too big to ignore."

Moskowitz also revised Mac unit estimates slightly upward for the quarter, projecting 32 percent year over year growth for a total of 3.89 million Macs sold, compared to a previous estimate of 3.85 million. Citing conversations with industry participants, Moskowitz predicted that the MacBook Air will continue its "break-out performance" from the first quarter of fiscal 2011, Apple Insider reported.