Jefferies Raises Estimates on Apple (AAPL), Sees Company Outperforming Consensus

Jefferies is reiterating its Buy rating and $500 price target on shares of Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) ahead of Q3 earnings.

The firm believes that Apple will report its Q3 earnings ahead of the Street's estimates with sales of the Macbook Air, iPad, and iPhone all topping expected sales. Jefferies is forecasting sales of 4.1 million Macs and 8 million iPads.

Jefferies believes that additional carrier support from SK Telecom in Korea and the long-awaited white iPhone sales will offset any weakness in demand for iPhones in Verizon (NYSE: VZ). The firm raised its iPhone sales estimate from 16.3 million to 17.3 million.

Margins for the second quarter are estimated to be 38.5 percent, ahead of the Streets estimate of 37.3 percent.

An analyst from Jefferies comments on Q4 guidance, "we expect typical conservatism but believe a few tailwinds are present, notably new product upgrades and back-to-school demand. Our best guess is for a September iPhone 4GS launch, though there is chatter it could be August or October. We also expect the launch of a low-cost iPhone."

Jefferies raised its EPS estimates on Apple, for Q3 from $5.56 to $5.95m for Q4 from $6.53 to $6.83, for 2011 from $24.92 to $25.61, and for 2012 from $29.98 to $30.27.

For more ratings news on Apple click here and for the rating history of Apple click here.

Shares of Apple closed at $357.77 yesterday.

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