BMO Capital’s Keith Bachman, who has an Outperform rating on shares of Apple (AAPL), this morning raised his price target to $590 from $545, after lifting his estimate for iPhone unit sales this quarter and for the full year to reflect the addition of carriers offering the device, including China Telecom (CHA) where the phone will go on sale March 9th.
For the current quarter, the fiscal Q2 that ends in March, Bachman estimates Apple may sell 29 million units, up from a prior 28 million-unit estimate. For the year, he’s modeling 120 million units, up from 118.5 million. Bachman also raised his estimate for fiscal 2013, to 156.3 million iPhones sold from a prior 153.5 million.
The change brings Bachman’s EPS estimate this quarter to $9.16 from a prior $8.96, though that is still behind the Street’s $9.43. For this year, he’s modeling EPS of $42.33, up from a prior $42.03, but still trailing the consensus $42.71.
The result of the new model is that Apple’s smartphone growth will outpace the overall smartphone market this year, with the iPhone’s sales rising at �at 1.1 times the pace at which the smartphone market overall expands this calendar year, and 1.5 times in 2013, as it takes away market share.
Apple’s smartphone market share will probably rise to 21% by calendar 2013 from just under 19% in 2011, he estimates.
Apple shares this morning are down $2.86, or half a point, at $519.55.
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