Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Apple iPhone To ‘Steamroll’ BlackBerry, Says Ticonderoga

Ticonderoga Securities’s Brian White today writes that Research in Motion’s (RIMM) disappointing fiscal Q2 report last night and mixed outlook is a mixed bag for other companies in the tech universe.

It is a definite positive for Apple (AAPL), he thinks: “In our view, the fall of RIMM with its “too-little-too-late” BlackBerry refresh will continue to add to Apple’s momentum that we believe could be off the charts with the iPhone 5 launch.”

White rates Apple shares a Buy and has a $666 price target on the stock.

White thinks the introduction of Apple’s “iPhone 5,” which may happen in coming weeks, according to the latest rumors, will “steamroll BlackBerry 7 ramp,” while the lower-than-expected shipments of RIM’s “PlayBook” tablet computer last quarter show that the device in his opinion has become “another iPad casualty.”

“We believe it is only a matter of time before the iPhone and iPad challenge RIMM’s enterprise dominance.”

As for Celestica (CLS) and Flextronics (FLEX), two contract manufacturers that get 19% and 10% of sales from RIM, respectively, could benefit from the ramp up of the BlackBerry this quarter.

“RIMM’s November quarter shipment outlook (even if growth is one-half this guidance), appears much stronger than our EMS models suggest and could be interpreted as a positive for EMS partners.”

White rates Celestica a Buy but has a Sell rating on Flextronics.

Apple shares today are up $5.14, or 1.3%, at $398.05, while Celestica is down 21 cents, or 2.5%, at $8.19 and Flextronics is up a penny at $5.93.

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