Sterne Agee’s Shaw Wu this morning ruminates on a question of frequent discussion these days, namely what will propel�Apple (AAPL) stock in the months and years to come after a handsome 25% return last year.
Wu, how rates Apple shares a Buy and who has a $500 price target, writes that the factor with the most promise to get the shares moving in 2012 is “the launch of the next-generation iPhone 5,” even more important than an “iPad 3″ or a television set, in his opinion, given that it is the biggest product line now and has the biggest addressable market among Apple products:
It [the iPhone] is arguably the single most important of AAPL�s businesses representing 44% of revenue in FY11 and what we estimate to be at least 60% of profits. It also has the largest unit opportunity with a yearly TAM (total addressable market) of 1.5 billion mobile phones.
Wu’s unnamed sources tell him the next model will use faster 4G cellular connections, in the form of “Long Term Evolution,” or LTE, technology, and will have a remodeled case: “From our checks with supply chain and industry sources and consistent with what we had said in early August note, we are picking up that the new iPhone will be a more radical update with a sleeker, thinner form factor, and a slightly larger screen.”
Apple shares today are down $1.39, or 0.3%, at $409.84.
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