Despite Apple’s recent slide in the market, one analyst believes the company’s consistent earnings will force the stock price up to $2,000 by the end of 2015. The claim comes from independent analyst Andy M. Zaky, whose estimates over the past four years have been considerably more accurate than the average Wall Street analyst, according to Fortune. Unlike most analysts, Zaky has projected the Cupertino-company’s growth over a number of years, rather than for relevant quarters. Apple is roughly trading at 14 times its current earnings, if that trend were to continue until the fourth quarter of 2015, the company’s individual shares will have risen to $2,000, Zaky claims.

“I’m fairly confident about these numbers,” Zaky said. The analyst projects Apple will ship 55 million iPhones in the first quarter of 2013, 80 million in the first quarter of 2014 and 110 million a year later in the first quarter of 2015.

“2014 is the golden age of Apple and the peak growth year,” he said. “After 2015, growth will stall and Apple will become a mature company — at least for this era.” Zaky believes Apple will need to come up with new innovation in the years following 2015 to continue its growth and enter into another golden age.

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Social networking giant Facebook is reportedly set to make its initial public offering on May 18th, a day later than earlier reports had claimed. Company co-founder and chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg, chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg and chief financial officer David Ebersman will take part in a roadshow beginning on Monday that will see the company host a number of meetings to pitch its stock to investors, The Wall Street Journal reports. An offering will then be made on May 18th, the report claims. Facebook’s IPO could raise a much as $10 billion and value the company at as much as $100 billion, making it the largest Internet IPO in history. Google’s 2004 offering currently holds the record at $1.9 billion. Facebook will be listed on the NASDAQ under ticker symbol FB.

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Google earlier this month reported its earnings for the first quarter of 2012, topping Wall Street’s estimates. The Internet giant also announced plans to create a new class of non-voting capital stock that would effectively create a 2-for-1 stock split. As a result, Google would be able to issue new shares of stock for acquisitions and employee compensation without diluting the 56.3% voting stake the company’s co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin control. Not everyone is happy about the planned split, however, and a shareholder has sued the company and its board in an attempt to block the plan. The class action lawsuit is being put forward by the Brockton Retirement Board, which has accused Google of breaching its fiduciary duty to the company’s shareholders, Reuters reported on Monday. The complaint states that Page and Brin “wish to retain this power, while selling off large amounts of their stockholdings, and reaping billions of dollars in proceeds.” The Brockton Retirement Board asked a Delaware judge to block the plan and award unspecified compensatory damages.

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A number of Google shareholders are asking for the Internet giant to follow in Apple’s footsteps and return part of its $44.6 billion in cash to investors, Bloomberg reported on Thursday. Google has more cash as a percentage of market value than five of its largest competitors, including Apple. The iPhone maker recently reinstated a dividend and unveiled plans for a $10 billion stock buyout last month. Google is currently the only U.S. technology company with a market value of more than $125 billion that doesn’t offer a regular shareholder payout. The Mountain View-based company’s cash has almost doubled since 2009, and it has increased by between $2 billion and $3 billion each quarter. A dividend would ease the tensions between the company and its investors, who have endured a 1.5% decline this year. “There’s a pattern here that makes sense, and I’m sure Google will figure out the right thing to do,” said Michael Holland, chairman of Holland & Co., a New York investment firm that oversees more than $4 billion in assets. “It’s a little bit of a victory dance, if you will, to be able to have the sort of cash surplus that a company like Apple does and Google does. To share some of it is sharing the victory dance.”

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On April 12th, 1976, one of three co-founders of Apple Computer sold his 10% stake in the company for $2,300. Ronald Wayne says he made the “best decision with the information available to me at the time” when he chose to sell his shares in the emerging technology firm. Unlike counterparts Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, Wayne had capital on the line and stood to lose his assets if Apple went under. Had he retained his full stake in Apple to this day, it would currently be worth nearly $60 billion. Wayne went on to enjoy a long career as an engineer with the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and other firms, Wired reports, and he later opened a stamp shop before retiring to Pahrump, Nevada. Apple is currently the most valuable company in the world and as of Wednesday’s close, the company’s market capitalization totalled just under $585 billion.

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Apple on Monday hosted a conference call to reveal the fate of at least some of the $100 billion in cash and cash equivalents the company has amassed over the past few years. Apple announced that it plans to repurchase $10 billion of stock over the next three years, in addition to paying out a $2.65 quarterly dividend. Over the next three years, the compay expects to spend $45 billion. Apple’s press release follows below.

Apple Announces Plans to Initiate Dividend and Share Repurchase Program

Expects to Spend $45 Billion Over Three Years

CUPERTINO, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Apple® today announced plans to initiate a dividend and share repurchase program commencing later this year.

“Even with these investments, we can maintain a war chest for strategic opportunities and have plenty of cash to run our business. So we are going to initiate a dividend and share repurchase program.”

Subject to declaration by the Board of Directors, the Company plans to initiate a quarterly dividend of $2.65 per share sometime in the fourth quarter of its fiscal 2012, which begins on July 1, 2012.

Additionally, the Company’s Board of Directors has authorized a $10 billion share repurchase program commencing in the Company’s fiscal 2013, which begins on September 30, 2012. The repurchase program is expected to be executed over three years, with the primary objective of neutralizing the impact of dilution from future employee equity grants and employee stock purchase programs.

“We have used some of our cash to make great investments in our business through increased research and development, acquisitions, new retail store openings, strategic prepayments and capital expenditures in our supply chain, and building out our infrastructure. You’ll see more of all of these in the future,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “Even with these investments, we can maintain a war chest for strategic opportunities and have plenty of cash to run our business. So we are going to initiate a dividend and share repurchase program.”

“Combining dividends, share repurchases, and cash used to net-share-settle vesting RSUs, we anticipate utilizing approximately $45 billion of domestic cash in the first three years of our programs,” said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple’s CFO. “We are extremely confident in our future and see tremendous opportunities ahead.”

Apple will provide live streaming of a conference call to discuss its plans beginning at 6:00 a.m. PDT on Monday, March 19, 2012 at www.apple.com/quicktime/qtv/call31912. The Company will not be providing an update on the current quarter nor will any topics be discussed other than cash. This webcast will also be available for replay for approximately two weeks thereafter.

Shares of Apple stock briefly jumped above $600 shortly before the market opened on Thursday as investors anticipate the launch of the new iPad. Apple’s iPad, which is already available from at least one retailer in Australia, launches in preliminary markets at 8:00 a.m. local time from Apple’s retail stores. The tablet features a new high-resolution 2,048 x 1,536-pixel Retina Display, a faster dual-core Apple A5X processor, an upgraded 5-megapixel camera and an option for integrated 4G LTE connectivity. Shares of Apple stock had dipped back below $600 at the time of this writing.

The “Apple is worth more than” meme has gotten plenty of play over the past year, but a new measure of Apple’s success emerged on Monday that is as simple as it is monumental: a single share of Apple stock now costs more than an iPad. As of the open of the market on Monday, Apple’s stock rose just above $499 — the entry-level price of Apple’s iPad 2 — undoubtedly on its way to $500 and beyond. The Cupertino-based firm that once teetered on the brink of bankruptcy and was saved in part by a $150 million investment from Microsoft is now worth more than Microsoft and Google combined. Read on for more.

Apple shares exploded last month after the company reported earnings for its first fiscal quarter. The firm’s $13.06 billion in profit was the most ever recorded in a single quarter by a technology company, and the second most ever recorded by any company in the United States.

Apple now has more than $100 billion in cash — the company reported that the total value of its cash and marketable securities reached $97.6 billion at the end of the first fiscal quarter — and it is about to unveil a brand new version of its popular iPad tablet, the Retina Display-equipped iPad 3. Apple is then expected to enter brand new territory for the firm when it launches the “iTV” this summer, and a completely redesigned iPhone will likely follow this fall.

No company stays on top forever, but things aren’t expected to slow down any time soon for Apple. In fact, those sky-high price targets some scoffed at last year really aren’t looking so outlandish anymore. OK, maybe a few of them still are.

Facebook plans to file for its initial public offering as soon as Wednesday next week according to multiple reports from Dow Jones Newswires. Morgan Stanley is expected to win the deal to lead the highly anticipated IPO, and Goldman Sachs is also reportedly expected to play a role. According to Dow Jones Newswires, Facebook is currently looking at a valuation between $75 billion and $100 billion. Following next week’s anticipated filing, it will still be several months until the company goes public. The initial offering is expected to raise as much as $10 billion, which would make it the biggest U.S. Internet IPO in history. The record currently stands at $1.9 billion, achieved by Google when it went public in 2004. At $10 billion, Facebook would also best the largest global technology IPO — Infineon’s $5.9 billion offer — by more than 40%.

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As we reach the end of the workday, hordes of iPhone hopefuls are likely getting ready to pack it in and head to their local retailer in an effort to score a shiny new iPhone 4S. As popular as the device has been around the country however, stock-outs are a definite possibility. After all, Sprint and AT&T have both announced record sales and the day isn’t even over. According to an email from a RadioShack spokesperson, The Shack might just be your best bet. “iPhone 4s enthusiasts who are still looking to get their device late this afternoon or over the weekend will find them at their nearby RadioShack,” the company said in the emailed statement. “RadioShack has the iPhone 4S available in 3,000 stores nationwide, and available through its ‘Direct2U’ program in all stores nationwide — customers can buy iPhone 4S at any RadioShack location and have it shipped directly to their homes. Availability of specific configurations (carrier, white vs. black, 16GB vs. 32GB) may vary somewhat across locations. It’s recommended customers call their local store for information.”

HP shareholder Richard Gammell has filed a class-action lawsuit against HP after the company made the drastic decision to kill off the TouchPad in August, which resulted in a 20% drop in share price the following day, Reuters reported. Gammell argued in the suit that HP failed to inform investors the webOS operating system was no longer a major part of the company’s plans moving forward, and that the company had revamped its business plan without telling shareholders. Those actions, Gammell argues, artificially inflated HP’s share price. Gammell is seeking damages for any HP investor who purchased stock between November 22, 2010 and August 18th, 2011.

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Research In Motion will benefit in the near term from the ongoing launch of its new BlackBerry 7 smartphones, which are being described as the vendor’s strongest devices in some time. Sterne Agee analyst Shaw Wu upgraded his rating on RIM stock to Buy from Neutral, increasing his price target to $35 from $28. Wu sees near-term opportunity in RIM, and he thinks new BlackBerry handsets like the Bold 9900 will be well received. ”The key differences this time include a refined user interface and improved hardware including faster processors, better graphics and displays as well as better build quality with its greater use of premium materials,” Wu wrote on Friday. “The company recently launched the new Bold 9900 and Torch 9810 and we see the upcoming launch of the full touchscreen Torch and new lower-end Curve in upcoming 1-2 quarters as future catalysts. RIMM has undoubtedly lost some customers but for loyalists still using 2-3 year old models, these refined updates are a worthy upgrade.” Read on for more.

Wu goes on to add that RIM could capitalize while Nokia transitions from Symbian to Microsoft’s Windows Phone platform, though he did add that there is still concern surrounding s RIM’s long-term fundamentals and the risk of falling handset margins and increased competition. Perhaps most interestingly, however, the analyst says carriers are relaying a desire to broaden their portfolios to include a viable alternative to Google’s Android OS and Apple’s iOS platform, which now dominate the smartphone market. ”In our conservation with carriers, they are increasingly concerned with the growing dominance of GOOG and AAPL and want a viable No. 3 alternative,” Wu wrote. “We believe RIMM benefits being the incumbent and with now a stronger product set.”

Apple has not been able to provide “significant stock” of its new 13-inch MacBook Air notebooks to its indirect reseller channels, including Amazon and Best Buy, AppleInsider reported on Tuesday. Best Buy’s website says it is sold out online while Amazon is currently selling the 128GB and 256GB models for $250 more than the computer’s MSRP. Apple’s web store currently says the computer will ship within 24 hours of purchase and AppleInsider’s checks with 10 stores around the United States revealed that the Cuptertino-based company has had relatively no issues keeping the device in stock in its own retail channels. Only one Los Angeles Apple Store said it was sold out the 13-inch 128GB model. Apple revealed its mid-2011 MacBook Air family on July 20th and the computers were upgraded with Intel’s Core i5 and Core i7 processors and a Thunderbolt I/O port.

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Dell delivered second-quarter earnings on Wednesday that beat the Street’s estimates, reporting net profits of $890 million, or $0.05 per share above analysts’ consensus. The world’s No.2 PC vendor missed revenue estimates however, and it slashed guidance for the remainder of 2011. In a note to investors on Friday, Ticonderoga Securities analyst Brian White told clients to head for the hills and “exit this highway to Dell” before trends get worse. ”Despite the transformation of Dell’s portfolio that we believe will ultimately have a long-term positive impact on the company, we cannot overlook Dell’s high exposure to the public and consumer markets in a period of growing austerity programs and weakening consumer demand,” White wrote. “At the same time, we have concerns regarding Dell’s surging operating expenses as the company invests in new businesses that we believe will result in incrementally higher operating leverage in a tough environment and could cut more deeply into profits versus the last downturn.” White dropped his rating on Dell stock to Sell, setting a new 12-month price target of $9.25. More thoughts from White follow below.

“Putting aside our concerns surrounding weakening demand in key Dell verticals, we really do like what Dell is doing to its portfolio and we believe this will pay off for the company over the next 3-5 years,” White continued. “Although traditionally thought of as simply a leading PC vendor with a strong server franchise, Dell has been aggressively expanding its portfolio in areas such as services, security, storage, software and networking in an effort to provide customers with higher value add enterprise solutions. Specifically, the Perot deal pushed Dell into IT services in a bigger way, while the recent Compellent deal positions the company well for next generation SAN storage solutions and the pending Force10 Networks acquisition is Dell’s first big push into the data center networking market with internally developed solutions.”

The analyst went on to identify several risks the PC vendor currently faces. While White sees Dell’s current valuation on the lower end, he believes coming earnings over the next few quarters may still “surprise on the downside,” with particular considerations given to the weakening economy and government spending cuts. “Given the public spending weakness this time around and higher operating expenses, we believe earnings could have further downside potential,” the analyst said. He continued, “We generally think of IT sales growth at 4-6% per year, however, Dell has not kept up the market over the past five years and the company is only forecasting 1-5% growth for FY12.”

Pasedena, California-based investment management firm Primecap Management Co. recently doubled its investment in BlackBerry vendor Research In Motion. According to a recent regulatory filing, Primecap now owns 26.4 million shares of RIM stock valued at about $577 million as of Monday’s close, and the stake represents approximately 5% of RIM’s total outstanding shares. According to Bloomberg, Primecap’s stake at the end of the second quarter of this year was approximately 2.5%. As numerous analysts continue to cut their price targets on RIM stock, Primecap’s continued investment could represent a vote of confidence in RIM’s new BlackBerry 7 phones and its future QNX phones as well, which are due to begin launching in the first quarter of 2012.

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