Apple: UBS Ups Target to $675, Oppenheimer to $700, Raise Estimates

Shares of Apple (AAPL) are down $5.39, or 1%, at $580.18 this morning as the company’s newest iPad goes on sale, and as two upbeat analyst notes surfaced.
UBS’s Maynard Um this morning reiterated a Buy rating and raised his price target to $675 from $550, writing that Apple may “accelerate the number of initial carriers” to whom it offers its iPhone when it introduces an “iPhone 5″ later this year, which he expects to be “still the Big Catalyst Ahead,” and in fact, “the biggest catalyst and launch in Apple’s history.”
Um also thinks something called “account-based billing” could be a plus for Apple. Under that scheme, multiple Apple devices could share a single high-speed 4G bill, rather than each device spawning a new monthly commitment.
Um raised his estimates for fiscal 2013 (ending September of that year) to $180 billion in revenue and $50.43 per share in profit, up from a prior $175 .8 billion and $48.83 per share.
And Oppenheimer & Co.’s Ittai Kidron this morning raised his price target on the shares to $700 from $570, writing that the introduction of the new iPad “looks to be very strong,” and that his “checks” of sales of the iPhone 4S in the U.S. and overseas are “consistently positive.”
Kidron sees “ample reach” to extend the iPhone’s sales, in particular within China, he writes. He expects demand for the iPad to outstrip supply through Q3 of this fiscal year, which ends in June.
“And the iPad is also levered to a still developing market with Apple’s dominance yet to weaken even with many value options available.”
Kidron now models $171 billion in revenue and $46.70 per share this fiscal year, up from $168 billion and $45.78. For next year, he models $200.4 billion and $54.40 per share, up from a prior $193.7 billion and $52.3! 8.
Fin