Shaw Wu with Sterne Agee today initiated coverage of Apple (AAPL) with a Buy rating as part of a broad transfer of coverage from analyst Vijay Rakesh, who is focusing more on semiconductor stocks going forward.

The note also included Cisco Systems (CSCO), Dell (DELL), Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), Ingram Micro (IM), Research in Motion (RIMM), Synaptics (SYNA), and Synnex (SNX).

Wu rates Cisco and HP a Buy, the rest, Neutrals.

Writing that the most frequently asked investor question at Sterne is whether Apple is still a buy, Wu emphasizes that he urges buying on dips, and that investors still under-appreciate the growth in Apple’s end-markets, as well as its ability transform existing markets and create new ones.

“One of the key concerns that we and many investors have is that AAPL has gotten to a size where it is becoming difficult to grow the way it has over the past 10 years,” writes Wu. “We believe this is a legitimate concern but at the same time, if any company could do it, it would be AAPL.”

He continues, “We think the beauty with the AAPL story is that the company doesn’t need to win everyone over to continue its success. The company just needs to continue winning a fair share of its vast end markets.”

Apple’s shares of computers could rise from about 4.5% to 8% to 10% in the next few years. “This is excluding the iPad business,” he notes, which, if factored in, could boost Apple’s computer share to 15% to 17%.

In the more than billion unit mobile phone market, we estimate that smart phones are about 20% of the market, up from 15% a year ago and 5%-7% only a few years ago. We believe smart phones will likely end up being 50%-60% of the market over the next 3-5 years, meaning the market could potentially more than double from here. People forget that AAPL is a relatively new player in mobile phones having entered in June 2007. We estimate iPhone market share to be about 25% within smart phones and only 3% in total mobile phones.

Wu raised his price target from Rakesh’s target of $400 to $445 for Apple.

As for Cisco, “Regardless, we believe sentiment has gotten overly negative with CSCO shares discounting a lot of bad news trading at 9x CY12 EPS (7x excluding net cash),” writes Wu. “Moreover, we would like to note that about 29% of CSCO’s market capitalization is net cash. We find the risk-reward favorable and believe patient investors with a longer- term horizon of 12-18 months will be rewarded.”

For HP, “We see great opportunity in HPQ growing its networking and storage businesses, where we believe the company can leverage its position as the top player in servers.” Also, people are looking for alternatives to Cisco, he notes.

What’s more, “We see webOS as a wildcard to be potentially disruptive and a key driver for growth, particularly for its consumer business.”

Wu has a $29 price target on Cisco shares and a $56 price target on HP shares.

Apple shares this morning are down $1.77, or half a point, at $349.19, while Cisco shares are up 12 cents, or 0.7%, at $17.57, and HP stock is down a penny at $41.10.

Article courtesy of Tech Trader Daily

Time was, the MBA candidates at Harvard were by and large white boys of debatable attractiveness looking for a cushy gig at Goldman upon graduation. Those guys are still there. But know who else is too? Chicks! Good looking ones! Who don’t a rat’s ass about working on Wall Street. What praytell are they doing at HBS? Looking to get a leg up in the fashion world. For example, former model Olga Vidisheva. This her story.

…the 25-year-old Russian model with piercing green eyes and a 24-inch waist, struts into class, her fellow students at Harvard Business School snap up from their laptops. The 5-foot-8 stunner, who loves labels like Chanel and Yves Saint Laurent, stands out in a sea of crew-cut, khaki-wearing nerds. After graduating from Wellesley in 2007, the beauty from Moscow logged two grueling years working at Goldman Sachs. “I really gave it a shot,” she sighs. Upon realizing that finance wasn’t for her, she enrolled at HBS for an unlikely reason—to get a leg up in the fashion world. She spent this past summer in a coveted internship with Chanel’s marketing department in New York and hopes to score a plum job in fashion after graduating in 2011.

And Olga’s not just some sort of freak accident. Apparently there are lots of Olga’s running around campus.

They are a growing breed of well-groomed, well-heeled women who know as much about modern capital markets as they do about hemlines; who strive to work in chic lofts in Dumbo rather than a trading floor on Wall Street; and who claim that forgoing a “serious” career as an i-banker to hawk beauty products and designer dresses marks them as a new breed of feminist. With their perfectly blow-dried locks and lip-glossed smiles, these women lend a new glamour to the fusty business school, famed for churning out financial eggheads like Michael Bloomberg, JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon and ex-Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain.

But why Harvard? “Stanford’s too small, Kellogg [at Northwestern] is too far from any fashion hub and Wharton has such a focus on finance that I don’t know if you’d find enough people interested in retail,” Alexandra Nelson, class of 2010, told Page Six Magazine. “Harvard Business School is becoming the place for fashion.”

Harvard Goes High Fashion [NYP]

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker

Go HERE for more photos from the night and tag yourself and your friends!

Last night, Paper Magazine hosted a party at The Standard on Sunset for their 13th annual Beautiful People issue.  The party was held at the Standard's signature blue AstroTurf pool area and Cactus Lounge where there were a couple of bars set up to keep guests fueled with shmooze juice for the night. For many, it was a reunion since partying together at the Nylon event the night before.  Needless to say, several of guests the were lacking their beauty rest and sporting some baggy, bloodshot eyes. But neither lack of sleep nor the hideous traffic due to the road work for the Sunset Strip Beautification Project was any deterrent for this crowd.  The pool area was packed with an assortment of young, fashionable guests (some not so much but good effort) much like the night prior.  Who wouldn't want to be able to say they were at a party for the beautiful?

But unlike the Nylon party, there was no hold up at the door. In fact, most people just waltzed right in without having to get the green light from a door bitch or being checked off a guest list. Some random person could have walked in off of Sunset and moseyed onto the step and repeat to pose for photos and no one would have stopped them. It was just that kind of party.  Some notables and “talent” came out for the poolside bash, including Danny Masterson, Adam Lambert, Benji Madden, Emma Roberts, Brent Bolthouse,  and Samantha Ronson.   Towards the end of the night Nikki & Rich gave the crowd a live performance that had everyone crowding the stage.

Handfuls of guests posted up in the VIP area in one of the hotel suites overlooking the party below, which, like the door down to the main event, had a non-existent security situation. Up there, partiers had their photos taken and stepped onto the balcony to chainsmoke while they soaked in an aerial view of the main party.

Despite the fact that it was crowded and that this was an “event,” there was a very light and relaxed feeling about the night that can only be achieved here in L.A.  Not sure what was responsible for the mood — perhaps it was the lack of event security, or the amazing panoramic views of the twinkling city, or the AstroTurf and floaties in the pool, or a combination of them all — but it made you thankful to live in L.A. With all the “beautiful people.”

Article courtesy of Los Angeles | Guest of a Guest – Los Angeles People, Places, Parties & Nightlife

Oh poor Kelly Bensimon.  She means well but the NYC Housewife is not too swift on the uptake. Her stance on being photographed with vibrators is completely respectable as a mother of two young daughters.

Unfortunately what was being handed to her when she said this was actually an acne-fighting device, most definitely not a vibrator. Even though we don't quite understand how you could confuse the zit zapper (it's ends are flat and square…) with a vibrator, somehow it's forgivable.

TRIA's zit zapper device

[Photos via Tria Beauty and SuperiorPics]

Article courtesy of Los Angeles | Guest of a Guest – Los Angeles People, Places, Parties & Nightlife