Apple Inc. buoyed by Barclays' price-target boost


Brokerage firm Barclays this morning raised its price target on Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) from $188 to $208. The new target represents a premium of 25.8% to AAPL's closing price on Wednesday. Additionally, Barclays reiterated its upbeat Overweight rating on the shares.

In a note to clients, analyst Ben Reitzes cited Apple's solid product pipeline and strong free cash flow outlook. "New products should begin to flow again within a few weeks," said Reitzes. "We are more upbeat about the long-term prospects for the iPhone & Mac lines with potential new products."

The news has propelled AAPL modestly higher today, extending the stock's impressive year-to-date gain of nearly 94%. The shares are rising along support at their 10-day and 20-day moving averages, which have contained all of the stock's daily closes since July 10. From a longer-term perspective, AAPL hasn't breached support at its 10-week trendline since the first week of March.

The most recent leg of AAPL's uptrend has been fueled in part by short-covering support. The number of shares sold short dropped by 13.7% during the most recent reporting period, and these bearish bets now account for just 1.9% of the equity's available float.

Elizabeth Harrow is an analyst and financial writer in the research department at Schaeffer's Investment Research. She is featured in the video series Schaeffer's Daily Q&A on SchaeffersResearch.com.

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Last updated: February 13, 2012: 06:55 AM

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