AAPL Post-Earnings Weekly Headline Roundup: April 24

From 24/7 Wall St. partner Apple Investor News:

There were big concerns heading into AAPL’s Q2 earnings report. Despite its history of sandbagging guidance then surprising to the upside, some predicted this would be the quarter Apple’s dominance would stumble. Well, Apple’s stellar results surprised again, but I think this particular surprise is significant.

This quarter’s results may, in retrospect, be the most important since Fall of 2004 when the iPod transitioned from just a success to iconic status and the “halo affect” for the Mac really took hold. Look what Apple managed to do in this near-depression and in a non-holiday quarter, typically one of its slowest. The new product introductions were not earth-shaking: just a new iPod Shuffle and performance upgrades to the Mac lines. Plus it had to contend with Steve Jobs’ medical leave. What does this say about the longer-term power of the Apple franchise and its ability to execute at a high level?

Now AAPL is positioned to introduce new iPhone software, perhaps a new iPhone model, and if the persistent Apple fan press stories are true, a new laptop tablet with iPhone-like features.

Most analysts did not predict AAPL’s Q2 performance. Here are a few post-earnings headlines and analyst comments:

• The increase in AAPL’s Q2 gross margins to 36.4% seemed to directly dispute the “Apple Tax” concept Microsoft is trying to promote. People seem willing to pay this tax.

•  Late to the party: Mike Abramsky of RBC Capital Markets upgraded the stock to an outperform, or buy rating, and said, “We underestimated Apple’s ‘VIP’, investor willingness to look beyond near-term challenges.” Still doesn’t seem like he gets it.

• Kaufman Bros. Shaw Wu raised his target price to $152.

• UBS analyst Maynard Um raised his target to $130 from $110.

• On the conference call, COO Tim Cook denied plans to introduce a netbook device, commenting that netbooks currently available have “cramped keyboards, junky hardware, very small screens, bad software.” I still think we will eventually see a product from Apple that is a cross between an iPhone/iPod Touch and a laptop.

• Forbes reported that Steve Jobs’ “feeling unappreciated” by his board was behind the large stock option grant given to him in 2001, which resulted in Apple’s SEC backdating problems. Forbes obtained a transcript of Jobs’ deposition through a Freedom of Information Act request. In the transcript, Jobs said he was looking for recognition, and that money wasn’t really the issue.

• Apple beat its PC competition in  a customer service survey by Forrester Research. Apple bested HP, Dell and others, and was the #1 PC vendor in all three customer service categories the survey examined.

Frank Cioffi, Apple Investor News.

(full disclosure: Cioffi owns AAPL shares)