Lots of good tidings for Apple from analysts on Wednesday - largely tied to iPhone. Investors Business Daily had word of a few comments from analysts, starting with Raymond James analyst Chris Caso. According to Mr. C., checks of the iPhone 13 supply chain indicate that “production bottlenecks have now been solved.” Specifically, Apple’s apparently getting plenty of camera modules and power components that had limited supply. The analyst says he and his think constraints started easing early last month, “likely providing Apple with more supply than expected, and therefore providing an upward bias to (December-quarter) estimates.”
News of supply chain improvements bode well for the current quarter, in Caso’s estimation. iPhone sales usually get a boost from Chinese New Year. Now, it seems, there will be enough to go around.
Caso has an “Outperform” rating on Apple shares. Tip Ranks puts his price target on the shares at $185.
Loop Capital Markets analyst John Donovan is liking what he’s seeing in terms of iPhone’s average selling price. Folks are flocking to Pro models and models with more storage, in his estimation. Both of those factors drive up iPhone’s cost, and he thinks other analysts and investors are missing that. The way he sees it, everyone else is off by about 10%. Consensus has iPhone ASP coming in at $817, while Donovan and Co. think the actual ASP is closer to $900.
Loop Capital has a “Buy” rating on Apple shares. The firm’s price target on the shares is a sort of soggy $165.
In a note to investors from Goldman Sachs analyst Rod Hall agrees with Caso and Donovan on iPhone availability, though not on Apple sentiment. A piece from Apple Insider has rowdy eyeing availability of both the iPhone and Apple’s latest MacBook Pros. First, on the phone, Hall sees lead times for the iPhone 13 line at one-to-two days across most regions, with iPhone 13 Pro Max a notable exception. Here in the states, would-be buyers are still looking at a four-day wait for that one, while the wait is three-days on other parts of the planet. The report says that is “likely because of the model's popularity.”
Waits Remain for MBPs
Moving to the Mac, Apple’s M1 Pro and M1 Max machines are still playing hard to get. The piece has Hall indicating that:
At a global average, lead times for the 14-inch model stand at 25 days, an increase of six days. For the 16-inch MacBook Pro, lead times expanded by a day to 20 days.
Sound as all of that sounds, Hall’s still not feelin’ it. He’s got a “Neutral” on Apple shares and a price target of $142. Apple shares closed Wednesday at 175-and-a-half.
