Evercore ISI analyst Amit Daryanani lifted his price target on Apple stock to $145 from $135.
Mladen Antonov/AFP via Getty ImagesWall Street is getting more optimistic about Apple’s coming earnings report.
Earlier this week, I took note of a couple of analyst notes looking ahead to Apple’s (ticker: AAPL) December-quarter financial results and lifting their estimates and price targets. Late Wednesday, Evercore ISI analyst Amit Daryanani chimed in, repeating his Outperform rating while lifting his price target on the stock to $145 from $135.
As with the calls earlier in the week from Canaccord and Credit Suisse, Daryanani lifted his expectations for the quarter, which is likely to be reported in the last week in January. And like his peers, he cited strong early demand for the higher-end versions of iPhone 12.
In boosting estimates, Daryanani points to a combination of better-than-expected unit demand and higher-than-expected average selling prices, as consumer demand trends toward the higher-end Pro and Pro Max versions of the new phone line. He also notes “better services growth,” given better than 30% growth in downloads from the App Store.
“Importantly not only do we see demand remaining robust in [the December quarter] but also expect upside to sustain in [the March quarter],” given extended lead times for the iPhone 12 Pro and, to a lesser extent, the Pro Max, he writes.
“The iPhone Pro has now been shipping for two and a half months and our analysis suggests lead time remains elevated across each country we track, with the exception of the U.S.,” Daryanani writes. He says Apple is offering same-day delivery on the iPhone Pro in the U.S. with special courier delivery that costs an additional $10, but that standard delivery still requires a 21-day wait, a modest improvement from the 33-day wait at the beginning of December.
He notes that in China, delivery times for the 12 Pro have come down from 23 to 16 days—but still the longest lead time 10 weeks out from launch for any iPhone in history. He notes that the base iPhone 12 and the 12 Mini has shorter delivery times across all regions, “which could point to a strong mix of higher priced iPhone 12 Pros.”
The Evercore analyst lifted is looking for $104 billion in revenue and $1.43 a share in profits for the quarter, above the Street consensus at $102 billion and $1.40 a share. He sees 80 million iPhone units for the quarter, with an average selling price of $775.
Apple shares were up 1.2%, at $128.17, in recent trading. The S&P 500 was up 0.9%.
Write to Eric J. Savitz at eric.savitz@barrons.com
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