Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has a bright future ahead of it this year according to noted Piper Jaffray analyst and Apple guru Gene Munster. He spoke with Michael McKee today on Bloomberg Radio’s “Bloomberg Surveillance” about Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Google Inc (GOOG). Google is set to release its earnings today after the bell, while Apple will release its report tomorrow. Munster believes Apple will beat Wall Street estimates for the December quarter when it reports tomorrow.
However, currently investors are looking for bad news from Apple. The stock has been hovering around $500 per share for the past week, and Munster said investors will especially be looking at the company’s guidance for its March quarter. He named two major events that he expects this year and believes that will help “get the stock working again.”
Munster said the first major event to expect from Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is a cheaper iPhone. He noted that it “sounds bad,” but Apple currently doesn’t address 65 percent of the smartphone market. Therefore he expects a cheaper iPhone to accelerate the company’s earnings and generate $6.5 billion in revenue this year.
He said the other major event he expects from Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is the Apple Television, which his research shows will be an actual television rather than the set top Apple TV box the company currently sells. He believes we will see the Apple Television by the end of the year and that it will “fix the remote control problem” by turning iOS devices into remote controls. He said the company also must work on getting content for its Apple Television, but that would be “further down the road.”
Munster has set his price target for shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) at $875 per share.
Munster On Google
When Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) reports its earnings today after the bell, Munster told Bloomberg he expects that those earnings will disappoint investors. He said 20 percent of Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s business is Motorola, which it acquired last year, and that part of the company has been underperforming. He emphasized that it’s important for investors to focus on the core Google number and filter out the Motorola number.
Munster said the biggest problem for Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) is the shift to mobile advertising. Mobile clicks sell for less than desktop clicks because it’s a new ad medium and advertisers are not willing to pay as much for them.
“The key is going to be creating ad units that are optimized for mobile,” Munster said, “And specifically your mobile phone, your smartphone, has some attributes that your desktop doesn’t have. The biggest is it’s location-based, and so what we’re looking for is for them to talk more about how they can really optimize some of the inherent features in smartphones to make better ad units in the future.”