Pre Makes Palm a New Man in Only Minutes a Day
by John Paczkowski
Posted on June 24, 2009 at 9:50 AM PT
Palm’s market cap is currently $1.95 billion. A year ago it hovered around $400 million.
Amazing when you think about it, really. On the promise of the Pre and the company’s new WebOS operating system alone, Palm (PALM) has added more than $1.5 billion to its market cap. A quick and impressive recovery, and one that analysts say is likely to continue now that the device has had a successful launch.
In an investment note today, RBC analyst Mark Abramsky esimates that Palm has sold 150,000 Pre handsets to date and predicts it will sell 4.1 million in fiscal 2010 and 6.5 million in fiscal 2011.
Over at Credit Suisse (CS), analyst Deepak Sitaramaneven is even more optimistic. He sees Palm selling 7.7 million Pres in 2010. “The successful launch of the Pre at Sprint Nextel (S) has raised carrier interest given Palm now offers a credible alternative to Apple (AAPL),” Sitaramaneven wrote. “We believe this will drive top-line growth of 144% in calendar 2010, and our estimate is predicated on 7.7 million units in calendar 2010.”
That seems a rather…buoyant prediction for a company still grappling with Pre supply issues. That said, if Palm is able to score distribution deals with Verizon (VZ), AT&T (T), Vodafone (VOD) and others by the beginning of next year, the prediction may be within the realm of possibility. Something to think about as the company prepares to report quarterly earnings tomorrow.
