A Collective "Buy the Dip" On Apple

Everyone in the stock market with a pulse is talking about Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) today, following news over the MLK holiday that CEO Steve Jobs is taking an indefinite medical leave of absence.

While most of the talk is just banter and speculation, put together, the views could help create a picture of where the stock is headed.

Below we've listed the view points of various Wall Street analysts made since the news. Collectivity, Wall Street is recommending clients buy the dip in the stock.

• Piper Jaffray: Jobs is not stepping down as CEO which may point to him seeing "the leave will be shorter and/or less serious than his previous leave." Reiterate Overweight, $438 price target.
  
  
• Gleacher & Co. said the stock will not break the $300 level due to the company's earnings power in 2011, which creates a floor for the stock of around $300, down 15% from levels before the announcement. Maintains Buy, $355 price target.
  
  
• Needham & Co.: "We continue to recommend the stock. Apple's shares were relatively inexpensive even before the latest news. More importantly, Apple has one of the deepest managerial benches in this country starting with Tim Cook. Jobs’ absence should have no material impact on Apple's financial performance over the next several years." Maintain Buy, $375 price target.
  
  
• BGC calls the news a negative, but said "the company isn't going to fall apart." Commenting on the earnings tonight the firm said, "It would be surprising to have Apple release poor quality earnings on the heels of this news. For faster traders there is a window to take advantage of the expected share weakness today ahead of what should be a record earnings results. Maintains Buy rating and $380 price target.
  
  
• Deutsche Bank: Says weakness could create an opportunity. "This is the 3 rd leave Jobs has taken due to health issues since 2004. We believe Tim Cook is a proven operator and very capable of managing Apple's day to day operations. We also believe AAPL's product roadmap for the next 12 months is largely set and Cook (and team) will ensure crisp execution on that roadmap." Reiterate Buy, $410 price target.
  
  
• Jefferies: "Steve Jobs is taking a medical leave of an indeterminant nature with an unkown length. While this creates uncertainty, we believe the product pipeline is set for the next two years and Apple's bench strength has come through before. We would use weakness as a buying opportunity" Reiterate Buy rating and $450 price target.
  
  
• Ticonderoga Securities: "As arguably the most iconic CEO in the world, we believe Apple's stock will come under heavy selling pressure on Tuesday. If the stock goes into a significant downturn in the coming weeks on this news and/or further developments in the future, we believe Apple would be wise to tap into its $51 billion net cash position (as of the end of FY10; we estimate $70.8 billion by the end of FY11) for a significant stock repurchase or a generous cash dividend. We wish Steve Jobs the best of luck in his recovery, and hopefully, he is back in the saddle at Apple before long." Maintains Buy, $450 price target
  
  
• Goldman Sachs: "While the stock is likely to face near-term pressure, we believe the longterm fundamentals remain intact and we would reiterate our Conviction Buy on any weakness. This is based on the following key points we detail in this note: 1) The management team remains strong, and we believe investors would embrace Tim Cook in any potential succession plan; 2) Apple’s $51 billion in cash and investments could be partially distributed to shareholders to stabilize the shares; 3) The multiple of 15.1X already represents a significant historical discount, and we see no direct risk to earnings from this move." Reiterate Conviction Buy $430 price target.
  
  
• Janney Capital: "We believe this latest development will put pressure on the shares and we expect some holders to take profits as the market reacts to this latest medical leave. However, we continue to believe in the (1) products, (2) Apple’s innovation engine, (3) financial model/performance, and (4) management team. We would be buyers of the shares on weakness here." Maintains Buy, $395 price target.
  
  
• Kaufman Bros: "we would take advantage of meaningful weakness to add to positions as we believe the AAPL platform adoption story is still intact." Steve Jobs has "successfully embedded his way of thinking and philosophy into the culture of AAPL." Reiterate Buy rating and raises price target from $395 to $415.
  
  
• Wedbush: "While we expect a negative reaction to Steve Jobs’ announced medical leave of absence, we believe Apple has the management team in place to execute and deliver on new products already in the pipeline. We would buy on any
  material weakness...We believe Apple has a solid bench, led by COO Tim Cook, which should be able to continue to execute on Apple's strategic direction and product pipeline." Maintains Outperform rating, $405 price target.
  
  
• Wells Fargo: "While there will likely be some negative stock response resulting from this headline, we are more than comfortable with the rest of the management team. We believe that the company has its product plans set in place for the next few years, and do not expect to see any change in strategy...While it is clear that Jobs can't be replaced, we believe Apple's brand, strategy, and depth of talent is in place and the company should be able to continue to execute well. We believe that the current valuation already reflects some of the risk investors have associated with his health concerns." Maintains Outperform rating.
  
  
• ISI Group: Apple's revenue and EPS rose 21% and 54% in the first six months of 2009, when Cook was leading the company in Jobs absence the first time. The fir notes Cook led a refresh of the iPhone and prepped for the launch of the iPad. Reiterate Buy rating, $400 price target.
  
  
• BTIG Research: "The knee-jerk reaction for a stock like Apple would be to buy on dips and that would certainly be following the advice of most analysts this morning. The chorus of buy on weakness calls could certainly temper the sell off today in front of a quarter when, as usual, the consensus is well above guidance. That sets up for a pretty risky 24 hours given how the stock has reacted in the past from slight deviations in items like gross margins and units not to mention the risk of any commentary on the call that provides more details about Jobs' health or the coming quarter."
  
  
• Barclays: "While Steve Job's health has been a constant concern for investors given previous issues and his importance to the company, we believe this announcement will still come as a negative surprise given it is the second leave in just two years, and this time there doesn't appear to be a date set that he expects to be back. That said - Apple's succession plan is obvious to us - Tim Cook is a proven executive who can handle the pressure and knows how to run the inner workings of Apple in Steve's shadow. We believe Apple is in capable hands." Maintains Overweight, $420 price target.

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