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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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
8-13-2009 @ 11:38AM
Beltway Greg said...
Barclays is just recording the ascent. Superior products and customer service. LL Bean and Ed Demming would be proud. Her hips don't lie and shorts don't cover unless they have a reason. Shakira, Shakira.
8-13-2009 @ 1:40PM
Beltway Greg said...
And one more thing......why are all of the smart people constantly complaining about some ridiculous app when Verizon, AT & T, all of them make you sign an extension of your contract anytime you get a new phone? Of course they'll sell you last year's model for $499 if you don't sign the agreement and in doing so rip you off to the nth degree. Anti-trust? please. Collusion my friends.