Katy Huberty

Huberty: Apple could sell 13 million TV sets at $1,060 each

Survey finds Americans more keen to buy an "iTV" than they were the iPhone or iPad

FORTUNE -- Opinions about whether Apple (AAPL) is about to enter the TV set market are about as sharply divided as Fox News and MSNBC. You're either in the Gene Munster camp (It's coming, for sure, in 2013!) or in Jean-Louis Gassée's (It's a pipe dream!).

Whichever party you belong to, there's much to be gleaned MORE

Morgan Stanley: Hedge funds treat Apple like junk

A high-quality, fast-growing mega cap company that gets no respect on the Street

Katy Huberty, Morgan Stanley's chief Apple (AAPL) analyst, issued an elaborate report Monday entitled AAPL: How Do You Do Risk Management? that I can't pretend to understand completely -- not even the title.

But two takeaways are clear: (I quote)

Apple Q2: Misses high and low, but the best bloggers nailed it

Independent analysts take the top 8 spots in our quarterly earnings smackdown

FORTUNE -- Neither side scored a clear victory this time around. The professional analysts as a group were far too cautious. And our expanded cadre of independents showed signs of irrational exuberance.

But the list at right, which ranks 57 Apple (AAPL) analysts by the accuracy of their fiscal Q2 2012 revenue and earnings estimates, shows that the independents have MORE

Morgan Stanley juices Apple targets. Base: $720. Bull: $960

What was their "bull case" price target in January became their "base case" in March

It must have been an embarrassment for Morgan Stanley's Katy Huberty that her published 12-month price target for Apple (AAPL) -- set on January 25 -- was stuck at $515 while the actual share price zoomed past it and was setting new records almost every day. (Tuesday's close: $568.10.)

On Wednesday she did something about it. She MORE

Morgan Stanley: Apple could pay a 1.9% to 3.8% dividend from domestic free cash flow alone

Likely to exceed the tech sector's average 1.2% dividend, driving share price up $100

The institutions that hold 70% of Apple's (AAPL) shares lobbied Steve Jobs for years to put some of his company's rapidly growing cash hoard in their hands.

Now that his successor is talking openly about the company's discussions to do just that, the sell-side analysts have started to calculate how big their share might be.

The latest to weigh in MORE

Apple's share price overtakes Wall Street's 12-month targets

As of Wednesday morning Morgan Stanley's and Oppenheimer's were under water

Most sell-side Apple (AAPL) analysts are conservative in their earnings estimates but bullish in their price targets. According to Thomson/First Call, the Street high target this week is $700 and the median is a dollar short of $600. (The independent analysts are even more optimistic; the biggest number we've seen is Robert Paul Leitao's $790.)

But with Apple topping $525 in heavy MORE

Our Apple whisper numbers

Averaging the Q1 2012 estimates of the six analysts with the best track records

Whisper numbers, according to Wikipedia, emerge from widening cracks in the spreadsheets maintained by Wall Street analysts. Quoting an article by Daniel Svensson, the entry explains:

"When the estimate is first calculated by sell-side analysts, the number is submitted to companies such as First Call to be averaged with other analysts' estimates for the consensus earnings estimate. As MORE

Morgan Stanley: Apple may sell 190 million iPhones next year

A proprietary survey finds demand for iPads and iPhones much stronger than expected

The results of an AlphaWise survey of U.S. consumers conducted for Morgan Stanley the week after Thanksgiving was full of surprises, reports Katy Huberty in a note to clients issued late Wednesday.

iPhones are selling surprisingly briskly. Based on the survey and last week's comments from AT&T (T), Huberty estimates that Apple (AAPL) could ship anywhere from 31 to MORE

Black Friday: Apple zigged while the PC market zagged

PC sales were down 8% Thanksgiving week, but demand for the MacBook Air was strong

In a note to clients Thursday, Morgan Stanley's Katy Huberty rattled off several reasons to explain why retail sales of personal computers in the U.S. were down 8% year over year for the week of Nov. 20 to 26, as reported by the NPD Group.

Hard drive shortages, the lingering effects of flooding in Thailand
Price reductions in MORE

Morgan Stanley: Apple's price implies -2% long-term growth

Katy Huberty weighs in on the question "Why is AAPL so cheap?"

"Market Significantly Underestimates Apple's C2012 Earnings Growth" reads the headline of Katy Huberty's contribution to a 45-page Morgan Stanley report to clients Wednesday summarizing what the bank expects to be the big "investor debates" of 2012.

Her headline is an understatement, judging from the text of her note on Apple (AAPL). "Several data points," she writes, "give us confidence that MORE