Apple stock to hit $600 today? Tomorrow? Friday?
Seems like only yesterday Apple traded at $500; now it's closing in on $600 and a new report suggests there's a lot more in store.
Let the guessing game begin.
On December 23, 2011, Apple shares closed the day trading at $403.33. Less than two months later, this past February 13, the shares finished at $502.60. If you thought that was a steep climb, consider this: the company's stock price reached $594.72 earlier today, putting it within easy distance of $600.
With Apple's latest iPad going on sale in a couple of days, another catalyst for the latest move came from Morgan Stanley. Analyst Katy Huberty lifted her target to $720 from $515. She also offered the bull case scenario for calendar 2013, putting it out there that Apple can make it to $960.
The Morgan analyst likes Apple's ability to sell tablets into the enterprise as well as the potential for marketing lower-priced iPads. Also, she thinks the launch of an LTE-capable device sometime during the second half of this year will be good for an extra filip.
Separately, Canaccord Genuity analyst Michael Walkley went over to his dart board and raised estimates on Apple's stock to $710 from $665. Since the iPad launch last week, he said that his checks "have indicated record preorders with wait times for shipping iPad models now reaching 2-3 weeks. Given the new iPad's leading hardware specs and iOS developer and application ecosystems versus all tablet competitors, we anticipate Apple will continue to dominate both market and value share of the growing tablet market in calendar 2012-13."
