Apple Guru Gene Munster Tells Investors to Buy Before Earnings

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Apple Guru Gene Munster Tells Investors to Buy Before Earnings

Gene Munster, an analyst with Piper Jaffray, has painted a bullish picture on Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) stock ahead of an earnings report release next week. The main highlight of his optimistic outlook became apparent when he urged investors to purchase the stock before it leaped to a record $910.

Gene Munster’s advice to own the stock came through a note to investors on Monday. The note also revealed that Munster had high expectations in sales for the outgoing quarter. The analyst set the bar higher than Wall Street analysts, citing that sales would come in between 28 million and 29 million. Wall Street on the other hand set its expectations between 25 and 27 million.

Another argument that supported Munster’s standpoint was his inclination towards what he called “sustained weaknesses” at Nokia Corporation (NYSE:NOK) and Research In Motion Limited (NASDAQ:RIMM). This argument in particular consolidated his confidence, and gave him enough reason to believe that iPhone sales would soar above Wall Street expectations.

It was also noted that Munster highlighted the great expectations held for the highly anticipated iPhone 5 in October. As a matter of fact, Munster pointed out that this was the bigger picture, citing that the June iPhone number was not all that important in comparison to the swelling anticipation that will be exhibited in September.

Although he didn’t rally the same degree of optimism on the iPad, Munster still maintained that supply and demand were in balance. He also remarked that Apple still had a leash on the tablet market, citing that iPad units had been up 153 percent year after year, for the past 4 quarters.

Still on the iPad, Munster’s foresight revealed that he expected the tablet to record sales of 16 million units. His foresight somewhat revolves around Wall Street expectations. Narrowing down to numbers, it was further revealed that the iPhone was expected to glean half of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s sales, while the iPad was expected to make up for 24% of the sales.

However, as bullish as Munster may sound with regard to Apple, another analyst rallies a more optimistic spirit on the iPad. Charlie Wolf, an analyst with Needham & Company, had an interesting insight on the matter last week.  He projected sales of about 20 million for the iPad in the outgoing June quarter. His previous foresight was 13 million units.

Earnings reports for the third fiscal year of 2012 are expected to be released on Tuesday, July 24th. Today, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) opened at $605.05.

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