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Analyst Warns Of iMac Shortage

by , 1:00 PM EST, February 28th, 2002

Merrill Lynch analyst, Steve Fortuna, sent up red flags Wednesday after posting the results of his research into current and projected iMac production numbers and seeing a large shortage of iMacs looming. C/NET News.Com reports:

In a midday research note, analyst Steven Fortuna said information from the company's Taiwan analyst suggests that production levels for February will be somewhere between 5,000 and 10,000 units, similar to the 5,000 units it estimates were produced in January.

"Our forecast for the (current) quarter calls for 200,000 units, which would mean a lot of units need to be produced in March," Fortuna said.

Apple stock took a hit after the report surfaced, falling $1.65 to $22.02 per share Wednesday, and is currently around $21.60 today (Thursday. 2/28/02).

Read the full article, Analyst: New iMacs slow in coming, at C/NET's News.Com site.

The Mac Observer Spin:

Wall Street loves confusion and unpredictability. Oops, we got that wrong. Wall Street hates of anything that smacks of confusion or unreliability, and Apple was spanked for this. The problem lies in the fact that Apple has been pushing and hyping just how popular the iMac is, and that helped push Apple's stock price higher. If the company can't deliver on that popularity, that means that investors are going to want to take that value back.

Apple has been one of the best companies in the tech world when it comes to managing expectations, and it's interesting we are just now getting word of this development. By that we mean that we aren't going to take Mr. Fortuna's word until we hear from Apple.

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