Barclays Reiterates an 'Overweight' on Apple (AAPL); Patent Battles Highlight Apple's Advantage

Barclays reiterates an 'Overweight' on Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) price target of $515.00.

Barclays analyst says, "We continue to believe Apple's market cap can see further gains as it extracts more profits out of the traditional PC and mobile phone industries...Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) indicated that it has spoken to the top 5 licensees of Android and they had "enthusiastic support" for the deal. However, longer term the risk to Google will be balancing its commitment to its Android partners with that of Motorola. We believe the move highlights the strength of Apple's vertically integrated business model and how inventions/IP will be important in the relatively new smartphone industry. This acquisition could have ramifications for Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) and Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ), which also own mobile operating system technology."

"Apple Sees Momentum vs. Samsung: In its ongoing legal battle with Samsung over product designs, a German court has ruled that Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 cannot be sold in most of the EU, with the exception of the Netherlands. It will be interesting to see how the case develops since it could extend Apple's lead in tablets since Samsung is widely considered the most serious competitor. Our checks indicate that non-Apple tablets lack momentum and that the iPad is poised to dominate the market."

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

Shares of Apple closed at $383.41 yesterday.

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