Converting a List to a List (or any class that extends Number)

I want to create a very generic utility method to take any Collection and convert it into a Collection of a user selectable class that extends from Number (Long, Double, Float, Integer, etc.)

I came up with this code that uses Google Collections to transform the Collection and to return an Immutable List.

import java.util.List;

import com.google.common.base.Function;
import com.google.common.collect.ImmutableList;
import com.google.common.collect.Lists;
/**
     * Takes a {@code List<String>} and transforms it into a list of the
     * specified {@code clazz}.
     * 
     * @param <T>
     * @param stringValues
     *            the list of Strings to be used to create the list of the
     *            specified type
     * @param clazz
     *            must be a subclass of Number. Defines the type of the new List
     * @return
     */
    public static <T extends Number> List<T> toNumberList(List<String> stringValues, final Class<T> clazz) {
        List<T> ids = Lists.transform(stringValues, new Function<String, T>() {
            @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
            @Override
            public T apply(String from) {
                T retVal = null;
                if (clazz.equals(Integer.class)) {
                    retVal = (T) Integer.valueOf(from);
                } else if (clazz.equals(Long.class)) {
                    retVal = (T) Long.valueOf(from);
                } else if (clazz.equals(Float.class)) {
                    retVal = (T) Float.valueOf(from);
                } else if (clazz.equals(Double.class)) {
                    retVal = (T) Double.valueOf(from);
                } else {
                    throw new RuntimeException(String.format("Type %s is not supported (yet)", clazz.getName()));
                }
                return retVal;
            }
        });
        return ImmutableList.copyOf(ids);
    }

It can be used like this:

// Convert List<String> to List<Long>
List<Long> ids = MiscUtils.toNumberList(productIds, Long.class);

Is my code overkill or how would you simplify it and at the same time keep it generic enough?