Edible Apple

Philip Elmer-DeWitt reports on a research note from analyst Doug Reid of Stiefl Nicolaus who recently upped his stock target for Apple shares to $360 citing strong iPad demand.

Reid sharply increased his estimate for iPad unit sales in Apple’s fourth fiscal quarter to 5.4 million from 3.6 million, citing “robust demand” in the U.S. and Europe and supplies adequate to meet it. Although Apple’s competitors are rushing iPad look-alikes to market, he says, only one is available for sale and all are likely to be, in his words, “disadvantaged by unsuccessful attempts to integrate first generation tablet hardware with mobile OSes (Android 2.2/3.0, Chrome) that remain either nascent or entirely unproven relative to Apple’s nearly 4-year old iOS.”

Apple is set to release its earnings for Q4 2010 on October 18, with Reid anticipating Apple’s EPS to come in at $4.15 on sales of $19.105 billion.