January 20th, 2000

[11:00 AM] Several Wall Street Analysts Raise Target Price For Apple by Wes George A slew of upgrades are rolling in after Apple's stellar earnings announcement yesterday inspired brokerage analysts to give their clients two thumbs up on AAPL purchases. Banc of America analyst Kurt King said he raised his price target for Apple to $145 and hiked his earnings outlooks for Apple to $0.81 per share from $0.75 in the fiscal second quarter. He raised his fiscal 2000 EPS outlook to $3.50 from $3.25 and boosted his fiscal 2001 EPS estimate to $4 from $3.87. SG Cowen analyst Richard Chu raised his rating to "buy" from "neutral" and raised his 12-month price target to $135 from $115. Goldman Sachs analyst Rick Schutte raised his 2000 EPS estimate to $3.45 from $3.25 and hiked his 2001 EPS outlook to $3.73 from $3.60. Goldman put Apple's shares on U.S. Recommended for Purchase list. Credit Suisse First Boston analyst Michael Kwatinetz raised his estimate for Apple fiscal 2000 earnings per share to $3.45 from $3.25 and reiterated a "buy" rating. Salomon Smith Barney raised its rating of Apple from "outperform" to "buy". Shares of Apple (AAPL) are trading up by over $10 at $117 on huge volume at 10:30 (EST) For more of our coverage on Apple's stock and financial performance, check out the Apple Stock Watch Special Report. The Mac Observer Spin: Expect more upgrades as brokerage firms crunch the numbers from Apple's fiscal first quarter of 2000. Apple