Piper Jaffray Says Apple Top Pick For 2011 (AAPL)

Piper Jaffray says that Apple AAPL is a top internet pick for 2011. It has an Overweight rating and a $438 price target on shares. In the research note, Piper Jaffray writes, "We highlight AAPL shares as one of our top picks given our belief that investor concern over a sharp decline in revenue growth rate in 2011 & 2012 are overblown. We expect 2011 to see upside to Street estimates based on the iPhone at Verizon (see note dated Dec 15th), which could add 2-4% to Street estimates. Additionally, we expect the iPad international availability will more than double by year end from the ~30 countries it is available in today. While 2012 top line growth will be lower than 2011, (Street modeling for 33% in 2011 and 17% in 2012), we expect the 17% growth number will prove to be conservative off of a higher 2011 revenue number. Shares trade at 15x our 2012 EPS estimate." Shares of AAPL are up $2.82 in pre-market trading to $332.39, a gain of 0.86%.