Apple's iPhone seen as new growth driver

Continued..."We think this strength in the [business] model could keep investors interested in [the] coming weeks," J.P. Morgan analyst Mark Moskowitz wrote in a note.

Moskowitz, who had forecast Apple to sell 4.9 million iPhones in the quarter, raised his rating on Apple's stock to overweight last week. On Wednesday, he said that Apple's momentum with the iPhone, as well as the iPod and Mac computers "could help the company weather the macro [economic] storm better than most of its peers in coming quarters."
Still, some analysts chose to remain cautious about the outlook for the iPhone, even while lauding its sales.

Tavis McCourt of Morgan Keegan called the iPhone results "a home run," and that increased sales should help Apple reach annual earnings of $8 to $9 a share within a few years. However, McCourt tempered some of his enthusiasm by saying that iPhone shipment levels could decline over the next couple of quarters due to the uncertain worldwide economy.

Some analysts said that Apple's results were helped by the company pushing more of the 3G iPhones into the retail channel after the company stopped taking orders on the first-generation model in advance of the 3G version's launch in July. BMO Capital Markets analyst Keith Bachman said that Apple's iPhone sales were positive, but that shipments in the current quarter might decline because of the company's efforts to supply its channel partners with the first batch of 3G iPhones. End.

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