Apple: Street Affirms Confidence As Jobs Passes

And it’s back to the stock market, folks.

Following the passing away yesterday of Apple (AAPL) co-founder Steve Jobs, the stock is off $2.14 or 0.6%, at $376.11, which is just a bit worse than an the overall downtick in the markets this morning.

As you can imagine, there were some notes in the wee hours from the Street, with no ratings changes on the stock, mostly just affirmations of confidence in Apple.

Brian White, Ticonderoga Securities: Reiterates a Buy rating on Apple shares, and a $666 price target. “Steve Jobs has arguably executed the biggest turnaround story in corporate history, reinvented the consumer electronics landscape, destroyed powerful competitors, upended entire industries and improved the lives of consumers around the world with Apple’s innovative products. We believe Steve Jobs’ presence will always be felt at Apple and inspire employees to continue to innovate for many years to come. Steve Jobs’ acceptance of nothing but the highest quality work has been thoroughly ingrained in the Apple culture during his tenure, creating a team that we believe will continue to thrive. Clearly, there is no one like Steve Jobs in the tech world and Apple will never have another Steve Jobs at the helm, however, we believe he has created an incredibly talented team with Tim Cook as CEO that can lead Apple to continued success for many years to come.”

Shaw Wu, Sterne Agee: Reiterates a Buy ratig and a $500 price target. “Steve has been a great inspiration for us as analysts in the investment community and as consumers of its products. He has made AAPL the platinum standard by which we measure other technology companies and has helped create an �insanely great� amount of shareholder value. He is one of the forefathers of Silicon Valley and his contributions are immeasurable. We find it remarkable that he not only revolutionized and transformed the technology industry but media and retailing as well. We believe his impact will still be felt in the decades to come. In our view, iCloud has just gotten started and the iPhone and iPad are still relatively early in their adoption curve. And there are still untapped markets like broadcast television and streaming video.”

Gene Munster, Piper Jaffray: Reiterates an Overweight rating on Apple shares and a $607 price target. “We believe Tim Cook is the ideal candidate to continue the work of the irreplaceable Steve Jobs. We believe Jobs’ final act as CEO was another of his many great accomplishments. Cook is capable of running Apple, but his rare combination of extreme humility and insatiable motivation make him uniquely suited to continue Jobs’ work as CEO and carry on his vision with a peerless executive team. While there may be concerns among investors as to whether or not Cook can continue Jobs’ streak of innovation, we believe there is no better candidate to lead the company Jobs co-founded. And in many ways, it will be Jobs and his deeply rooted vision that will always guide Apple and its leaders. We believe Tim Cook will carry out a long-term (5-year) roadmap that he and Jobs jointly established, including several iterations of Apple’s existing products as well as new categories, like an Apple Television as soon as late 2012.”

Mike Walkley, Canaccord Genuity: Reiterates a Buy rating and a $545 price target. “While Mr. Jobs� passion, creativity, and keen eye for consumer preference will be missed, we believe Jobs and Apple�s executive team have built an unparalleled talent base and corporate culture that sets the table for future success and innovation. We continue to anticipate strong earnings growth for Apple over the next several years with very strong demand and relatively low global market penetration for iPhone, iPad and Mac products.”

Ben Reitzes, Barclays Capital: Reiterates an Overweight rating and a $555 price target. “We were able to observe Steve�s unmatched passion for his company and his inventions for several years at product launches. However, we also note how thoughtful he was to carefully mentor and leave his company in the capable hands of new CEO Tim Cook and others. We encourage you to read Cook�s message to Apple employees. We believe Apple’s innovation and product momentum can continue.”