Monday, May 19, 2008

Apple On A Tear - Up more than 50% in 3 months



Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) shares have run up more than 50% during the last three months.

Apple is one of the Top 20 Innovators of The Innovation Index.

What is driving the stock price?

1. Apple had an impressive second quarter earnings that beat the Wall Street estimates handily. Apple is poised to continue the earnings momentum in 2008, and beyond. How big has Apple revenue grown over the previous five years? About 300%.

2. Mac business is solid as a rock, growing 50% year over year. Apple has just rolled out new versions of iMac clocking over 3 GHz. And Apple is gaining ground in the laptop segment with the MacBooks.

3. iPhone business is strong, and Apple is on track to sell 10 million or more iPhones in 2008 - we estimate over 12 million. Some estimates track iPhone sales of over 5 million already in 2008.

Apple is introducing the all new iPhone 2.0 aka iPhone 3G next month. Further, Apple has created alliances all over the world to sell millions more iPhones.

Four mobile operators in the Asia-Pacific region introduced partnerships with Apple to bring the iPhone to their regions later this year. SingTel in Singapore, Bharti Airtel Ltd. in India, Globe Telecom Inc. in the Philippines and Optus in Australia. SingTel owns Optus and holds a 30.5 percent stake in Bharti and 44.5 percent in Globe. SingTel has about 2.3 million mobile subscribers in Singapore and around 7 million in Australia, according to data as of Dec. 31, 2007. Bharti currently has about 64 million subscribers, while Globe reported a 21.3 million mobile subscriber base for the quarter ended March 31. Potential Available Subscriber base for the iPhone: Over 95 million.

The top mobile phone operator in Latin America, America Movil SAB, (NYSE: AMX), another Top 20 Innovator, also announced plans to deliver the iPhone to its region. America Movil has 159.2 million subscribers in 16 countries, including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Mexico.

Apple has also signed deals with Rogers Communications Inc. to sell the device in Canada; Milan-based Telecom Italia SpA to sell the iPhone in Italy; and Vodafone Group PLC, the world's biggest mobile company by sales, to sell it in a total of 10 countries, including Australia, India, Italy and Turkey.

Finally, Apple sells iPhone with AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T), another Top 20 Innovator, in the United States, O2 in Britain, T-Mobile in Germany and France Telecom's Orange wireless arm in France.

In short, Apple has available subscriber base in the hundreds of millions for the iPhone - now it's a matter of time before Apple launches the new 3G iPhone, and potentially expands the market for the iPhone to tens of millions a year beginning in 2009.

The Innovation Index Fund Manager, that invests in Apple, is up 10% in 2008. The Top 20 Innovators of The Innovation Index have rebounded well in the 2nd quarter of 2008 to cause The Innovation Index Fund Manager to have double-digit gain for the year.

Innovation Index Group believes that the U.S. economy will recover significantly in the 2nd half of 2008, and the Top Innovators of The Innovation Index will reward the patient, long-term investor.

Innovation Index Group has BUY recommendations on the Top 20 Innovators of The Innovation Index, and price target of $235 - $250 for Apple in Q4, 2008.

About Innovation Index Group:

Innovation Index Group, Inc. is a new investment management company focused on systematically identifying, tracking and investing in the most innovative publicly traded companies in North America – collectively called the Innovation Index. We have developed the Innovation Index Fund, LLC as our first vehicle to invest in the Innovation Index. Over the past six years, the Innovation Index would have generated a gross average annual return of 40% based on historical model.* The Innovation Index returned 66% in 2007, and the Innovation Index Fund Manager is up 10% in 2008.*

Innovation Index Group, Inc. and Innovation Index Fund LLC are registered California Corporations, and member of the Irvine Chamber of Commerce in Orange County. Further, Innovation Index Fund LLC is a private placement investment partnership organized under the California state regulations.

The Innovation Index Reports:

Invest in The Innovation Index - Innovation Index Fund tracks The Innovation Index
The Innovation Index closes 2007 at 66% - 2007 Annual Report on the Innovation Index
Top 50 Innovative Companies in the world
- 2007 Report on Top 50 Innovative Companies
Annual Report - Chapter One - Total Innovation Activity - 2006 Annual Report One
Annual Report - Chapter Two - The Top Innovator - 2006 Annual Report Two
Annual Report - Chapter Three - The Innovation Insights - 2006 Annual Report Insights
Innovation and Stock Performance Correlation - The Innovation Index and Stock Performance

About The Innovation Index

The Innovation Index introduced in December 2006 is a weighted stock price index of the top 20 Innovators in North America.

The Innovation Index returned 66% in 2007 based on performance model, and would have returned 174% over the previous five years (2002-2006) based on historical model*. This assumes equal investment in each stock of The Innovation Index as of December 31, 2001. An average of $100 invested in The Innovation Index on December 31, 2001 returned $454 as of December 31, 2007. By comparison, $100 invested in S & P 500 returned 28% or $129, $100 invested in NASDAQ returned 34% or $136, and $100 invested in the Dow Jones Index returned 30% or $131 through December 31, 2007. The Innovation Index beats the S & P 500, NASDAQ and Dow Jones Index by more than seven times over the past six years.*

Alphabetical list of the Top 20 Innovators of The Innovation Index for 2008 and their stock ticker symbols:

3M Company - (NYSE: MMM)
Amazon.com, Inc. - (NASDAQ: AMZN)
America Movil - (NYSE: AMX)
Apple Inc. - (NASDAQ: AAPL)
AT&T Inc. - (NYSE: T)
Best Buy Co., Inc. - (NYSE: BBY)
Cisco Systems, Inc. - (NASDAQ: CSCO)
Costco Wholesale Corporation - (NASDAQ: COST)
eBay Inc. - (NASDAQ: EBAY)
General Electric Co. - (NYSE: GE)
Google Inc. - (NASDAQ: GOOG)
Hewlett-Packard Co. - (NYSE: HPQ)
Intel Corporation - (NASDAQ: INTC)
International Business Machines Corp. - (NYSE: IBM)
Merck & Co., Inc. - (NYSE: MRK)
McDonald's Corporation (NYSE: MCD)
Microsoft Corporation - (NASDAQ: MSFT)
NIKE, Inc. - (NYSE: NKE)
Research In Motion Limited - (NASDAQ: RIMM)
The Proctor & Gamble Company - (NYSE: PG)

The Innovation Index will analyze the positions and standings of the Top 20 Innovators at the end of each year. For 2008, there will be no further changes in The Innovation Index.

Disclaimer: The Innovation Index Group, Inc. invests in the stocks comprising The Innovation Index.
*Past Performance Does Not Guarantee Future Results

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