ThinkEquity Cuts AAPL to Accumulate, Maintains $130 Target

ThinkEquity analyst Jonathan Hoopes cut Appleis stock rating to "Accumulate" from "Buy" Tuesday, following Appleis World Wide Development Conference keynote address by Steve Jobs. In a research report obtained by The Mac Observer, ThinkEquity maintained its target price of US$130 per share, but with, "only 8% upside to our price target from current levels, we are downgrading to Accumulate."

The research report also emphasized the fact that ThinkEquity thinks highly of both Apple and AAPL, specifically citing Appleis people, its product roadmap, and financial performance. That said, Mr. Hoopes thinks Apple has become oversold in advance of the iPhoneis release.

"While we are not calling for investors to sell shares," wrote Mr. Hoopes, "we believe hat a reprise in AAPL share price would be healthy for the longer term inasmuch as we think too many people have glommed onto AAPL shares lately in front of the iPhone launch."

In other commentary on the Steve Jobs keynote address at the WWDC, Mr. Hoopes said that releasing Safari for Windows was, "single most important event of the day." He believes that the browser will increase awareness of Apple in consumer minds, and that it will lead to increased sales of Mac hardware.

"We think the Safari-on-Windows development is even more important than Boot Camp," he wrote in the report. "Whereas Boot Camp allows Mac users to run native Windows sessions on Mac hardware, Safari-on-Windows will likely act as a Trojan horse and open a new functionality window for Windows users."

Lastly, Mr. Hoopes offered praise for Appleis decision to open up third-party development for the iPhone through Safari. Doing so, he said, will increase iPhoneis competitiveness in a market currently dominated by so called "smart phones."

"While developers may not like the limitation," he wrote, "given that underlying mobile Mac OS X APIs (application program interfaces) are not open to public, Apple stands to benefit from this move as it should (1) ensure iPhoneis security and stability; and, (2) make Safari a "virtual OS" with versatile applications."

AAPL has trended higher throughout Tuesdayis trading day, and as of this writing trading at $121.02 per share, a gain of 0.83 (+ 0.69%).

*In the interest of full disclosure, the author holds a small share in AAPL stock that was not an influence in the creation of this article.