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iPhone 5: Can It Make Apple World's First $1 Trillion Company by Next Year?

Alexandra Burlacu

The impressive earnings Apple reported on Tuesday, April 24, spurred big upgrades to the company's stock, but Topeka Capital Markets' analyst Brian White seems by far the most optimistic.

White made headlines back in April, after setting a $1,001 target on Apple shares. Now the analyst seems even more bullish, and has raised that price to $1,111. According to White, the iPhone 5 will be one of the biggest tech upgrade ever and will make Apple the world's first trillion-dollar company by 2013.

Apple shares are currently trading around $610, which means Apple's market capitalization stands at $570 billion. White's $1,111 price per share and $1.04 trillion valuation may seem overly optimistic, but he backed his target with strong arguments.

Apple Fever

"Apple's performance once again demonstrated how quickly Apple fever is spreading around the world, and this trend continues to drive meaningful upside in the company's financial results," explained White. "We believe the negative vibes that have held back the stock over the past couple of weeks will now be replaced with the fear of missing the next leg up in the stock price that we are forecasting will reach $1,111 over the next year."

White based his target stock on Apple's current product lines, and believes Apple's stock will hit $1,111 even if the company fails to launch a television set. According to him, the iPhone 5, expected later this year, should be a significant improvement over the iPhone 4S, which will prompt many iPhone users and other smartphone owners to upgrade to the iPhone 5. White expects the next-generation iPhone to feature 4G capabilities, a new unibody design, a 4-inch display and many other impressive features.

In an interview with Bloomberg, White said Apple is the world's greatest company, and contended that "Apple fever" is taking on the globe, especially China. Apple tripled sales in China compared to the previous year, and sales in the country now account for 20 percent of its total revenue.

'Meaningful Upside Potential'

Apple shook the tech and business industries on Tuesday, when it released its fiscal Q2 2012 figures. Due to strong iPhone and iPad sales, the Cupertino, California-based company earned $11.6 billion on sales of $39.2 billion in the first three months of the year. Both its gross and operating margins sent all-time records in the fiscal second quarter. Apple has sold 365 million iOS devices up to date, 50 million of which it sold in its most recent quarter. In addition, the company has already signed up more than 125 million subscribers to iCloud, its cloud-based storage service.

"Apple is trading at just 8.1x (ex-cash) our CY13EPS estimate," said White. "Combined with our expectations for accelerated momentum over the next year with the iPhone 5, and Apple TV, and 'iPad Mini' and a potential relationship with China Mobile, gives us confidence that the stock has meaningful upside potential from current levels."

(reported by Alexandra Burlacu, edited by Dave Clark)

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