Apple Profit View Raised at Brigantine Advisors

Brigantine Advisors has raised its first-quarter profit estimate for Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) on strong iPhone shipments.

The brokerage raised its earnings view to $10 a share from $9.38 a share and revenue forecast to $38.4 billion from $37 billion. Wall Street expects Apple to earn $10.08 a share on revenue of $38.85 billion, according to analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.

We now expect that Apple shipped 30M iPhones during the December quarter and should track to ship 28M in the March quarter, analyst Kevin Dede wrote in a note to clients.

Meanwhile, Dede said competitors in the smartphone space have noted serious divots in the calendar year fourth quarter (December) sales volumes that he suspect may have been won by the new 4S and lower prices on older model iPhones.

Apple is expected to report its quarterly results for the October to December period after market closes on Jan. 24.

Dede, who has a buy rating on Apple shares, also raised the price target on Apple stock to $500. Shares of Cupertino, California-based Apple closed Monday's regular trading session at $427.41 at Nasdaq.