Apple is on track to break its previous record for iPhone sales over the holiday period, according to new analysis, which should pave the way for stock price gains.
Heading into Black Friday next week, analysts at investment bank and broker Wedbush Securities said they see delivery times for the Apple iPhone 13 Pro lengthening. The team, led by Dan Ives, estimates that demand is outstripping supply by around 15% heading into the holiday season.
Wait times have in the past been viewed as an indicator of demand for devices. But this year, in a world gripped by supply-chain issues, wait times for some models notching multiyear records might not be the clear green flag it would have been in the past.
Ives noted that Apple was dealing with the global shortage of semiconductors—a critical component in iPhones—and widespread supply-chain disruptions, but still he sees the tech giant smashing a key sales record.
“We estimate that Apple is on pace to sell ~40 million iPhones between Black Friday and Christmas, which would be record holiday pace for the company despite the lingering chip shortage limiting iPhone supply globally by roughly 10 million units based on our analysis,” Ives said.
The team at Wedbush said that “tremendous demand trends” in the U.S. and China were a positive sign that Apple could sell more than 80 million iPhone units this quarter.
That would be good for Apple investors, because, as Barron’s reporter Max A. Cherney wrote in September, “Apple stock practically lives and dies on the company’s iPhone sales every year.”
Wedbush maintained its Outperform rating on Apple Tuesday and its $185 price target, which indicates around 24% upside.
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