On the New York Stock Exchange, IBM shares rose Thursday by US$1.28 to close at $206, a record high for the company. On Friday, shares closed up by $0.01, its eighth straight day of gains. Though IBM has for years been eclipsed as the number one tech company in terms of either revenue or market capitalization (share price multiplied by number of outstanding shares), it nevertheless remains an industry bellwether because of its broad portfolio of enterprise products and global reach. Last quarter, IBM reported that net income was $5.5 billion, up 4 percent year over year.
Apple, which released its newest iPad Friday, has not only been the star of the tech arena, but the most highly valued company in the world in terms of market capitalization. On Wednesday, Apple shares briefly crossed the $600 mark -- a record for the company -- but closed at $585.86. Apple shares rose by $0.01 Friday to close at $585.57.
Piper Jaffray this week raised its target price for Apple, and along with other investment advisers including Morgan Stanley and Canaccord Genuity is saying that shares in the company will break the $700 mark. The brokerages foresee Apple hanging on to its dominant share in the tablet market, and maintaining a high share of the smartphone market. What's more, the analysts have been hiking their estimates for smartphone and tablet sales in general.
Piper Jaffray now forecasts that 189 million iPhones will be sold next year, an increase over prior estimates of 162 million. The firm also estimates that Apple will grab a 23 percent market share in the smartphone space, compared to its prior forecast of a 20 percent market share. In the tablet arena, Piper Jaffray estimates that Apple could sell 86.5 million iPads in 2013, up from its prior estimate of 75.5 million.
Though Apple has grabbed the lion's share of financial headlines lately, there has been good news in other sectors of tech. IDC said Thursday that global PC microprocessor revenue in the fourth quarter of 2011 rose to $10.9 billion, up 14.2 percent year over year. For all of 2011 PC microprocessor revenue rose 13.2 percent to more than $41 billion.