>Charles Schwab, a major brokerage firm, sent an exclusive e-mail alert to their larger clients yesterday noting some recent changes in the ratings on Appleis stock from the analysts that follow AAPL.

According to Schwab, "More than one analyst revised their earnings estimate for this year in the same direction in the last 24 hours. 15 Analysts increased their annual earnings estimate. The Consensus Estimate changed from $1.83 to $1.84."

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Reuters quotes Bear Stearns analyst Andrew Neff:

"We went to the keynote (speech) somewhat jaded, figuring that we were expecting a surprise, so what could he do to impress us. Despite this attitude, we were impressed with the G4 Cube, an 8 inch cube that fills the gap between the consumer-oriented iMac and the professional-oriented PowerMac."

Mr. Neff has a price target of $80 for AAPL and raised his estimates of annual earnings per share to $1.84, up from $1.80.

SG Cowen analyst, Richard Chu, upgraded Apple to a "strong buy" from a "buy" today and told Reuters, "With prospects for 20 percent-plus annual growth, proven streamlined execution, potential for more aggressive monetization of Mac customer base, and what appears to be a wide-open playing field for future innovation, Apple stock is compellingly cheap."

Mr. Chu believes that Apple will ship 150,000 G4 Cubes this quarter and units shipped will trend higher from there.

However, CNET reports that some analysts do not grok Appleis strategy of placing two processors in the high end Power Mac G4s. Some apparently think itis a ploy allowing Apple to claim a speed boost at the professional hardware level that Motorola and IBM could not provide with a single G4 processor. The skeptics claim that most applications can not take advantage of the second processor.

For other stories regarding Appleis stock activity, visit our Apple Stock Watch Special Report.