Barclays Capital Maintains Buy Rating for AAPL

by , 12:15 PM EDT, October 7th, 2008

Ben Reitzes with Barclays Capital is maintaining his 1-Overweight rating (Buy) for AAPL. Even though weak economic conditions have led to a deterioration of Apple's share price, Mr. Reitzes believes the value of Apple's stock at current prices is compelling.

In a note to investors on Tuesday, obtained by TMO, Ben Reitzes provided the following summary.

• NPD weekly US data suggests Apple's iPod sales for C3Q thru 9/27 were +8% y/y (3 pts ahead of the overall MP3 market), however sales in recent weeks appears to have slowed and turned negative according to the data.
• Most major Apple products are shipping w/in 24hrs on Apple.com, w/the exception of the 1.8 GHz MacBook Air, the 3.06 GHz iMac, the new 8GB iPod Touch & the new 32 GB iPod Touch.
• At Best Buy, the new nanos remain largely in stock, but the iPod Touch continues to show some availability soft spots both at retail stores and online. The 16 GB & 32 GB Touch models are currently "sold out" on bestbuy.com w/ the 8 GB version "backordered" 1-2 weeks.
• As of October 6, Apple held 9 of the top 10 MP3 player slots on Amazon.com.

Mr. Reitzes set his target price for AAPL at US$135.00.

On September 30, Lehman Brothers' equity research department relaunched under the Barclays Capital banner with Mr. Reitzes remaining the sector analyst for Apple.