New products seen as catalysts to buoy investors’ sentiment With Apple Inc. set to put an end to weeks of new-product speculation Tuesday, Wall Street analysts are getting in their last opinions on how Apple’s actions may affect the company’s stock price. AppleAAPL,-0.62% slipped by 58 cents, to $98.39 a share Monday on the eve of the company’s long-anticipated event near its Cupertino, Calif. headquarters. By all accounts, it would stun the world if Apple didn’t unveil the next version of the iPhone, which has been dubbed the iPhone 6. A smartwatch, which many have taken to calling the iWatch, as well as a new electronic-payment system, are also said to be likely candidates to Apple’s end-of-the-year product lineup as the company prepares to release iOS 8, the next version of its mobile-device operating system. “We continue to believe the imminent iPhone 6, iWatch [and] iOS8 launch sets up much better versus previous high-profile Apple launches,” said Timothy Arcuri, of Cowen & Co. “The stock is still no more expensive relative to the market than during any of the previous three iPhone launches, while this year’s new products and services likely have much greater long-term growth potential.” The payment system is the one release seen as a possible wild card, and it would put Apple into more-direct competition with Google Inc.’sGOOGL,+0.64% Google Wallet and eBay Inc.’sEBAY,+0.61% PayPal. Katy Huberty, an analyst who covers Apple for Morgan Stanley, said there are reports that Apple is already working with the major credit card companies VisaV,+0.73%MasterCardMA,-0.82% and American ExpressAXP,-0.76%as well as retailers like NordstromJWN,-0.92% and Macy’sM,-1.92% on incorporating near-field-communication [NFC] technology into the iPhone 6, and such a move could give investors more confidence in Apple’s stock in the coming months. “[It’s a] positive for Apple as a payment system could increase customer loyalty and generate new revenue streams,” Huberty said. “An easy-to-use payment ecosystem could create further differentiation for Apple’s devices.” Huberty added that a “secure and easy to use systems” from Apple “will drive higher e-commerce and credit card spending over time.” As far as its share price has performed of late, Apple’s stock has given up 5% after reaching a multi-year, split-adjusted high of $103.74 on Sept. 2, but is still up by 6.5% since the company pulled off a 7-for-1 stock split on June 9. Steve Milunovich, of UBS, said that while it isn’t uncommon for Apple shareholders to “sell on the news” following the company’s events, he said investors would benefit by staying the course with the company after Tuesday’s event. “The iPhone might be less mature than generally thought with a larger screen phone likely to create a solid upgrade cycle,” Milunovich said, add that the new iPhone “could exceed expectations at solid margins with 40% of U.S. buyers, let along Asian consumers wanting larger screen handsets.” http://www.marketwatch.com/story/wall-street-excitement-builds-ahead-of-apple-product-unveilings-2014-09-08?dist=tcountdown