Market buzz around Apple Computer sounded again this week , as better news show about chip companies helped interrupt a losing bar on several exchanges .
The continuing runaway achiever of the iPod , improve Mac sale , and the planned move to Intel mainframe have help fire IT investor pursuit in Apple . While the Nasdaq Composite Index is about even with its year - ago level , Apple ’s share price is about 50 percentage higher than it was at this time last year .
Tuesday , a day before the Nasdaq ended an eight - day losing streak , Apple basked in the luminescence of yet another analyst stock - military rank upgrade . This one came from Needham and Co. , which raised its rating on Apple stock from Hold to Buy . The move , fit in to Needham analyst Charlie Wolf , was sparked by a Harris Interactive survey that found , among other things , that as many as 8 per centum of Windows substance abuser would move to a Mac that could play Windows .
pronounce from sight results , Wolf cipher that Macs could take more than 5 percentage of the worldwide personal information processing system market by 2011 , well above Apple ’s 1.8 percent sliver now — and its share of the home marketplace would be even bully .
A lot of excitement has been created by the idea of run Windows software on Macs . Apple itself is permit substance abuser to scarper Windows on Macs , through its Boot Camp software . And on Thursday a startup company call Parallels Inc. declare the loss of Parallels Desktop virtualization computer software for Intel Macs , which enable them to simultaneously run Windows and Mac OS X. The 30 - day introductory price is a low $ 49.99 , and the full retail cost will be only $ 79.99 .
The Needham rating raise was the 4th rise from a major brokerage house this year . On Tuesday Apple shares ( AAPL ) rose by $ 1.33 to close at $ 58.33 .
Not all the news show this week on Apple was respectable . On Wednesday , the U.S. International Trade Commission ( ITC ) saidit will investigate a claim that Apple ’s iPod infringes a patent held by Creative Technology , the remote number two in the music player market . Andrecent reportsabout low pay and crowded term for Chinese workers who cook up iPods have not done the fellowship ’s image any good ( on Wednesday the companyissued a statement that it would inquire ) .
The ITC annunciation put a damper Wednesday on Apple shares , but on Thursday Apple bounce back , rise up $ 1.77 to shut at $ 59.38 .
It seems that Apple is gaining from its decision to open up the proprietary Mac arrangement while it is also secure its stronghold in the euphony market by adamantly keep its iPod - iTunes system proprietorship . The digital rights management outline Apple uses prevent interoperability with other twist . But so far , the higher-ranking , seamless experiences users get from the music system has foreclose a widespread outcry about its want of interoperability .
No doubt Apple gain from Thursday ’s broader exchange , but the troupe seems to be on a roller of its own .
After Goldman Sachs raised its evaluation on Intel Corp. ( INTC ) and the chip sector as a whole , several other brokerage firm watch over suit Thursday . The Nasdaq index jumped 13.53 points Wednesday and went up again by 58.15 points Thursday to close at 2144.15 . The chip stock upgrades and general confidence appeared to be due to a common sense that chip and other technical school stocks , after being strike by inflation fears and reports of slow up growth in IT , were a deal .
