Steve Jobs has retired as CEO of Apple Inc., leaving investors to contend with speculation and a possibly shaky stock price. In pre-market trading, shares were only down about 2% as the broader market looked mixed after unemployment claims increased slightly. 

Are the highly innovative days of Apple over? Before Jobs returned the company via a 1996 buyout of NeXT Inc. for $429 million, Apple was unprofitable. Granted, that was more than a decade ago and the tech giant is a lot more capable. 

Canaccord Genuity analyst T. Michael Walkley wrote in an investor note, "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. We reiterate our BUY rating and $515 price target; Apple remains a top pick."

And what of the man replacing Jobs as CEO - Tim Cook, who was previously chief operating officer. Walkley says "Cook is a universally regarded as a strong leader and supply chain expert, and we believe he is well suited to lead Apple to significant growth over the next few years due to Apple's leading iOS developer and application ecosystems and differentiated products."

Dealb%k offers an interesting question about the future of the company. Is more M&A in Apple's future? While Jobs came over in an acquisition and has done a few, he was certainly not considered a dealmaker.

Of course, Jobs isn't completely out of the picture. He was elected chairman of the board. In his resignation letter, Jobs said "I believe Apple's brightest and most innovative days are ahead of it. And I look forward to watching and contributing to its success in a new role." The company is in good hands with Cook, but the big man will keep watch just in case a helping hand is needed.