Caris ups Apple target; Survey: Macs gaining ground on campuses

[AppleInsider]

Analysts for Caris & Company on Monday upped their price target on shares of Apple to $200 from $175, citing expectations for a blowout holiday quarter. Meanwhile, a new survey has found that Macs are ascending on college campuses in droves, thanks largely to student discount and incentive programs.

Apple target upped at Caris

In a research note released Monday morning by Caris & Co., analyst Shebly Seyrafi reiterated his "Above Average" rating on Apple, but raised his price target from $175 to $200 a share.

Seyrafi is expecting the company to announce later today per-share earnings of $0.98 on sales of $6.2 billion for its fiscal fourth quarter of 2007 ended September. His model for the quarter is based on sales of 1.4 million iPhones, 11.5 million iPods and 2.05 million Macs.

Looking ahead to the current quarter ending December (Q108), Seyrafi is predicting Apple to earn $1.43 per share on revenues of $8.4 billion, driven by sales of 2.5 million iPhones, 24 million iPods, and 2.15 million Macs.

Apple's Mac ascending at Colleges

While Dell remains the most popular computer brand among college students, survey results published Monday by SurveyU reveal that Apple is gaining ground thanks to the tandem of its discounted student purchase programs and its iPod halo-effect.

The survey of 1000 online participants earlier this month found that the success of the Mac maker's back-to-school and educational programs are a significant contributor to its on-campus momentum, with more than 4 of 5 (83 perent) of Mac-owning students having purchased their Mac under a student plan that included a free iPod.

Slightly less than a third (30 percent) of Dell’s collegiate sales were made under a similar plan, SurveyU said, while the remaining computer manufacturers did not fully leveraged the power of discount or incentive programs.

"US College students have spent an average of $1,290 on their computers, resulting in more than $22 billion spent by those currently in college.” said Dan Coates, co-founder of SurveyU. "Given that colleges are swelling to accommodate the massive**Millennial generation, PC manufacturers would do well to get in front of this critical consumer segment."



The impact of the iPod on computer purchase decision-making is also undeniable, the survey found, with current iPod owners more likely to be current Mac users (29 percent versus 23 percent) as well as future Mac purchasers (52 percent versus 44 percent).**Computer brand choice varied by gender, with female collegians more likely to choose Apple, Sony and Toshiba and male college students preferring Alienware, Dell and Lenovo brands.

According to SurveyU , college students are mobile and therefor their choice of notebooks versus desktops reflects their demand for portability.**More than 4 out of 5 college students use a laptop as their primary computer, the organization said.

[DCJ001]

http://duggmirror.com/apple/Look_at_..._img_6672s.jpg

[Lorre]

Originally Posted by DCJ001

http://duggmirror.com/apple/Look_at_..._img_6672s.jpg

Wow... if it gets that bad I can see people switching to Linux just because everyone else has those boring macs...

If this is the trend I think Apple desperately needs more models and/or colors, otherwise macs are gonna look real dul real soon.

College market is very important, since students are very active computer users. My guess is more than half of the windows boxes out there don't even get turned on every day.

[Ireland]

Some courses require Macs, calm down everybody.

[davebarnes]

The chart is amazing.
Amazingly good for Apple.
If the data really do reflect the future, then Apple will surpass Dell--on college campuses-- within a year or two.

[zunx]

This is the begining of the end for Windows. Once pleople know about the Mac they do not want Windows, even if free.

Full picture:
http://duggmirror.com/apple/Look_at_them_apples

Left
http://duggmirror.com/apple/Look_at_..._img_6671s.jpg

Right
http://duggmirror.com/apple/Look_at_..._img_6672s.jpg

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!

[physguy]

Originally Posted by Ireland

Some courses require Macs, calm down everybody.

But apparently this course isn't one of those.

[elroth]

"Computer brand choice varied by gender, with female collegians more likely to choose Apple, Sony and Toshiba and male college students preferring Alienware, Dell and Lenovo brands."

Just more proof of which gender is more intelligent.

[wirc]

Originally Posted by elroth

"Computer brand choice varied by gender, with female collegians more likely to choose Apple, Sony and Toshiba and male college students preferring Alienware, Dell and Lenovo brands."

Just more proof of which gender is more intelligent.

Haha - We all wish that this growth in Mac users had something to do with intelligence. Yet I think you'll find that most of the purchases are based more on ease-of-use, popularity, and chic-ness. They want simplicity; Apple delivers. They want cool; Apple gives you that. They want pretty; Apple has that.

Most people in my year have Macs because the laptop they spent $1200 on failed, while the Mac users have $1500 laptops that still work very well after 3-6 years. But as to popularity and the halo effect - there is no doubt in my mind, that all the kids coming to my school, most of whom are upper-middle-class and whose parents are usually willing to put out $2000 for a well-specced laptop, can get a good Mac that meets all of their needs and more for that value. It's a status symbol, a symbol of hipness, and a sign that they get good design. They buy cool-looking HPs and

Yet, most people are missing the real advantages - let alone understanding why a Mac has benefits or where Windows XP was a solid. Even more so than viruses, people I have talked to bought a Mac for only marginally relevant reasons: "It's pretty," one girl offered. Another person said, "It looks cool." No one will admit to doing it out of coolness, however.

This is undoubtedly sub-optimal, except for stock price.

One of my residents asked me the other day where he could change Exposé settings. I was dumbfounded, since he hadn't even attempted to look at what his preferences were. I doubt he understands where OS X's interface trumps KDE, or what Darwin allows him to push his computer to. He may have been stuck in a Windows computer-infantilism or simply confused, but it indicates to me that the value of the Mac as a computer is not nearly as relevant as it seems in this increase.

Discuss.

[wirc]

In other news, I met the director of the Architectural Desktop project at AutoDesk, and he says that they're converting the whole company to Macs, and doing everything else, including running their own software, via parallels. He didn't say whether AutoCAD would be ported, but he did say that it was legacy software now, and Revit was the future.

[Neil Anderson]

Good to see higher ed students making the best choice for them.