Apple Stock Climbs 12 Percent On Bullish Notebook Talk

Apple shares climbed 12.5 percent Monday to close at $92.77 amid bullish analysts who saw demand for MacBooks breaking from the trend to lower expectations.

Despite reducing expectations on iPhone and Mac desktops sales for 2009, several Apple analysts told clients they expected sales of new MacBooks to increase.

On Monday, Oppenheimer’s Yar Reiner raised his projection for MacBook demand to 1.61 million, up from 1.54 million. Reiner pointed to the new unibody construction for his increased enthusiasm.

In a note to investors, Reiner said the new MacBook design would “continue to peel away users from the Windows mold.”

However, the growth of MacBooks could be threatened by low-cost netbooks from HP, Dell and others. The new competition “will likely require the introduction of lower priced offerings, ” warned Bernstein’s Toni Sacconaghi.

The excitement over notebooks did not extend to Mac desktops, which many Wall Street experts believe will see lower demand.

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