BofA/Merrill Remains Positive on Apple (AAPL)

							Robert DeFrancesco’s
TechStockProspector.com
December 18, 2012


BofA/Merrill Remains Positive on Apple (AAPL)
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*8 disruptor tech companies for 2013
*Splunk delivers the growth
*Salesforce still showing disruptor qualities
*A look at Eloqua & ExactTarget
*The Aruba Networks battle against Cisco heats up
*Akamai inks CDN alliance with AT&T
*Cisco wants more software revenue
*Is Acme Packet poised for a rebound?
*Why Palo Alto Networks is winning market share
*Infoblox surprises to the upside
*Valuing fast-growing Workday in the SaaS segment
*Analysts weigh in on Riverbed’s OPNET purchase
*Fortinet shares regroup following pullback
*Fusion-IO positioned for growth in flash storage
*TSP Deal Report: Sourcefire

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BofA/Merrill says the recent pullback in Apple (AAPL, $533.90) shares on concerns
about the supply chain has been overdone. The firm reiterates its ‘Buy’ rating and
price target of $720.

But BofA/Merrill doesn’t see Apple escaping totally unscathed from what it terms
“tepid” consumer demand in the U.S. and Europe. The firm takes down its fiscal
2013 (Sept.) iPhone sales estimate to 162 million units from its previous forecast of
170.5 million units.

This reduce the firm’s fiscal 2013 revenue and EPS estimates to $192.05
billion/$50.22 from $197.05 billion/$52.45.
As for the supply chain cuts, the firm thinks these are normal upstream inventory
adjustments (probably coming from previous double ordering of screens) and do
not indicate a sharp drop in demand at the end-customer level.

Yesterday, Apple shares dipped to a low of $501.23 and then came roaring back to
close in the green. The stock today added more than 15 points.

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