Shares of Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL), the world's most valuable technology company, skyrocketed 10 percent before the markets opened Wednesday on forecasts of further recordbreaking earnings.
In early activity, Apple was at $615.45, up $55.13 or 10 percent. The shares had fallen 14 percent from their April 9 record high of $644 on fears the Cupertino, Calif., giant might report an earnings shortfall.
The surge may influence overall U.S. markets Wednesday. Futures for the Dow Jones, Nasdaq and S&P 500 Indexes all rose, with the Nasdaq up 1 percent.
Rather, the company reported second-quarter net income nearly doubled to $11.6 billion, or $12.30 a share, as revenue leaped 59 percent to $39.2 billion. Both amounts were records for the 36-year-old company founded as Apple Computer.
Analysts lauded the performance of CEO Timothy Cook, especially his reliance on new markets in China and the other so-called BRICS countries -- Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - and raised earnings estimates.
At Jefferies, Peter Misek reiterated a price target of $800 and urged clients to buy the shares ahead of whatever product Apple introduces to succeed the best-selling iPhone 4S later this year. Management didn't provide a timetable.
At Topeka Capital Markets, analyst Brian White, who previously set a $1,001 price target for Apple, repeated the forecast and hailed the company's second-quarter results, especially for iPhone sales, "blew through our 29.4 million forecast."
Apple reported sales of 35.1 million iPhones in the quarter.
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