Business

$weet on Apple

CEO Tim Cook at the Apple event yesterday

CEO Tim Cook at the Apple event yesterday (AP)

Wall Street still loves Apple.

Nine days before shoppers get a chance to vote with their wallets on the iPhone 5, analysts are praising the tech giant’s latest gadget.

“The consumer is going to be blown away,” said Jefferies & Co.’s Peter Misek.

The analyst is forecasting the new 4G smartphone will sell 58 million units this year — far above the average estimate of 47 million.

Misek has a price target of $900 on Apple shares.

The Cupertino, Calif., company’s stock closed yesterday at $669.79, up 1.4 percent. It is up 65 percent this year.

Brian White, an analyst with Topeka Capital Markets, said after Apple unveiled the latest version of its most profitable gadget that he expected sales of the iPhone 5 to surpass forecasts in the first three days and hit 5.5 million units.

Apple CEO Tim Cook was up against sky-high expectations yesterday when he took the wraps off the seventh iteration of the iPhone, which has sold more than 250 million units since it was introduced in 2007.

In fact, some investors appeared to get worried, and Apple shares actually slipped 3.6 percent over the past three sessions before rallying late yesterday.

The iPhone 5 comes with the design revolution Apple fans have come to expect from next-generation devices: It’s thinner, lighter, faster and made of new materials that make it look sleeker, with a better screen.

With the unveiling yesterday during a press event in San Francisco, the iPhone 5, it is now clear, will produce some corporate winners and losers.

Facebook, Twitter and Electronic Arts — as well as developers and gamers — are seen as clear beneficiaries of the stepped-up iPhone.

Facebook and Twitter come out ahead because of better integration, while gamers will be able to take advantage of a faster processor.

Of course, some developers got advance warning. Electronic Arts showed off a new racing game on stage at the Apple event that also takes advantage of the larger screen.

Jens Begemann, CEO of gamemaker Wooga, said his company got to work on its iOS hit “Diamond Dash” before Apple unveiled the phone.

“Based on rumors and leaks, we built for this new device,” he said.

Those seen as iPhone 5 losers include: Radio Shack, which sees smaller margins from iPhone sales compared with other items in the store; Google, which will see tens of millions of iPhones lose Google Maps, a result of Apple moving to its own map developer; Samsung, which no longer has its chips in the iPhone; and Amazon, which will be hurt by the improved iTunes also announced yesterday.

Apple, itself, was hurt a bit yesterday as Cook’s presentation lacked the mystery and surprise factor of past Apple introductions.

The unusual amount of iPhone 5 leaks — photos, specs, 4G speed, timing of its retail arrival — lessened the surprise for Wall Street and consumers.

Apple, known for its tight secrecy, could not keep the iPhone 5 under lock, and it became the most leaked product in the company’s history.

That doesn’t seem to have discouraged Wall Street.

Fourteen analysts issued reports yesterday and not one of them backed away from their rosy predictions.