(Reuters) – Apple Inc said Tuesday it has sold 3 million iPads since the touch-screen tablet computer hit store shelves less than three months ago, as demand for the device continues to steam ahead.
Shares in the giant consumer electronics company, which has overtaken Microsoft Corp to become the world’s most valuable technology company, gained 1.7 percent after a number of brokerages raised their price targets on the stock, including UBS and Kaufman Bros.
UBS on Tuesday raised its estimate on iPad unit sales for 2010 by 42 percent to 6.8 million from 4.8 million.
“Improved supply and international expansion has helped Apple accelerate the rate at which it is selling the device,” UBS analyst Maynard Um wrote in a Tuesday note.
He estimated that every 100,000 iPads sold add one penny to earnings per share.
Kaufman Bros analyst Shaw Wu raised his fiscal 2010 earnings and revenue estimates for Apple and hiked his price target by $2 to $342. In afternoon trading, the stock was up $4.63 at $274.80.
“We as well as the Street continue to underestimate demand for iPad. Part of the reason is that the iPad, as a tablet, is a relatively new product category where it fits in between a smart phone and a notebook PC,” Wu wrote.
He now expects Apple to sell 9.7 million iPads for calendar 2010.
Apple sold 1 million iPads in the first month after the U.S. launch on April 3, and had sold 2 million iPads by May 31 [ID:nN31178032].
It hit the 3 million mark on June 21, it said in a release on Tuesday.
In addition to the United States, the iPad is currently available in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan, among other countries. It will be rolled out in nine more markets in July.
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