Analysts expect Apple to sell 5 million iPads in first year
Wall Street analysts on Monday joined the masses in terming Apple Inc’s iPad launch as “rock-solid,” with some pegging sales of the tablet computer at about 5 million units in the first 12 months. At least four brokerages raised their price target and full-year estimates on the company, two days after Apple’s latest device hit stores. Analysts also said the tablet computer’s margins would push up Apple’s earnings from the onset. In a statement, Apple said it had sold more than 300,000 iPads on the first day of its launch.
Moskowitz estimates iPad’s gross margins to be about 51 percent and expects Apple to sell about 4.8 million units in the first 12 months. Susquehanna Financial analyst Jeffrey Fidacaro raised his calendar year 2010 unit sales estimates to 4.8 million units from 2.1 million units. Analyst Fidacaro, who expects a smaller second wave of demand in late April for the 3G version, said due to iPad’s robust eReader capabilities it is likely to take share from Amazon.com Inc’s Kindle.
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