Analysts react to Apple's iPhone 5s and 5c launch weekend sales

Posted:
in iPhone edited January 2014
After Apple's Monday morning announcement of record-breaking sales for Cupertino's newest flagship iOS devices, sentiment among analysts is generally positive.

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With more than nine million iPhone 5s and 5c units moved in the phones' first weekend of availability, analysts review their estimates and revise price targets for Apple's stock, though few alter ratings.

Gene Munster, Piper Jaffray
Sales numbers are higher than expected, but that may be due to retained inventory rather than sales to consumers.

Target: $640.00
Rating: Overweight


"We had been expecting 5-6 million units as sell-through and note that the 9 million unit weekend number includes sell-in of the 5C. Our adjustment for the sell-in implies opening weekend sell-through of around 5.5 million units. We believe the 5.5 million sell-through number compares to the 5 million iPhone 5 units sold last year (Apple sold out of initial stock) and view the 5S/5C launch as a solid start. We note that iPhone 5S demand throughout opening weekend appeared to be stronger than iPhone 5 demand last year."

Ben A. Reitzes, Barclays
iOS 7 appears to be driving sales of new iPhones, while sales numbers are even more encouraging due to iPhone 5s supply constraints.

Target: $525.00
Rating: Overweight


"We find it interesting that Apple is also positively revising its guidance while the quarter is still about a week away from closing. We do not recall this type of pre-announcement ever happening and it seems that it implies a message from management that the company is back on track.

The announcement is quite positive considering supply of the iPhone 5S is also significantly constrained at this point, as demand has exceeded the initial builds. Apple also announced 200 million customers have migrated to iOS7 and the rollout has been the 'fastest software upgrade in history.' The new OS is clearly driving sales as well."

Steven Milunovich, UBS
Sales figures seem strong at first glance, but may be tempered by weaker-than-expected demand in key growth areas.

Target: $520.00
Rating: Neutral


"The 5c appears less popular than the 5s with its advanced technology, at least among early buyers.

The first weekend numbers are encouraging though with wider availability and product cycles seemingly compressing it is difficult to know how far to extrapolate the figures. The response in China appears muted. In addition pricing programs from China Telecom and Unicom are not as accommodative as originally thought."

Timothy Arcuri, Cowen & Company
Apple confounds sales expectations and validates iPhone 5c market targeting strategy.

Target: $550.00
Rating: Outperform


"AAPL announced BMO that it sold ~9MM new iPhone 5S/5C over the weekend with more than 200MM iOS devices being updated with iOS7. This compares to ~5MM iPhone 5 and ~100MM iOS6 downloads in the first weekend of launch in September 2012. This is roundly better than our ~7MM expectation (some peers were still saying 5MM as recently as this morning) and, we think, also materially better than buy side expectations of ~7-8MM (see our note from midday Friday). We think this result validates Apple?s decision to maintain focus on profitability vs market share."
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 106
    icoco3icoco3 Posts: 1,474member

    Is the furnace running??  I feel a lot of hot air blowing.

  • Reply 2 of 106

    Utterly clueless pap.

     

    I truly pity the foolish investors who buy into this.

  • Reply 3 of 106
    hydrhydr Posts: 146member
  • Reply 4 of 106
    Clueless hacks.
  • Reply 5 of 106
    Congratulations to Apple. They've done a bang up job and have simply silenced all of their critics with these sales numbers.

    Simply amazing and almost unbelievable :)

    12 million next year then?
  • Reply 6 of 106
    muppetrymuppetry Posts: 3,331member

    Lots of sad analyst self-justification for completely missing the mark, as expected.

  • Reply 7 of 106
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by hydr View Post

     

    Watch this and laugh:

    http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000201502&play=1


     

    what a moron... $300 for apple in the future. even Google or MS have higher EPS than apple would have at $300. and this guy keep saying apple is failing to innovate. I bet the last thing this guy innovated landed in a toilet 

  • Reply 8 of 106

    Apple did awesome. But I think the 5c sales show that the 5c might be overpriced. I think Apple could have made it about $50-$100 cheaper and it would have done a lot better. There is no reason for the 5c to ever be priced the same as the 5s (which happens at the $200 level).

     

    Although that may be part of Apple's upsell strategy, and low 5s yields are the driver behind them marketing the 5c so heavily.

  • Reply 9 of 106
    Why didn't Apple listen to the Analysts who were crying for a lower price points?

    Apple could have:

    Sold all of their existing inventory for less money
    Lowered their overall margins,
    Injured the brand
    Produced less profit for the company and shareholders

    What were they thinking?
  • Reply 11 of 106
    In the famous words of Spanky "tain't enough, call back later"
  • Reply 12 of 106
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by addicted44 View Post

     

    Apple did awesome. But I think the 5c sales show that the 5c might be overpriced. I think Apple could have made it about $50-$100 cheaper and it would have done a lot better. There is no reason for the 5c to ever be priced the same as the 5s (which happens at the $200 level).

     

    Although that may be part of Apple's upsell strategy, and low 5s yields are the driver behind them marketing the 5c so heavily.


     

    Who in the world is qualified to lecture a company on pricing when they sold 9M phones in one weekend? You? Really? Are you not capable of changing your narrative and admitting that you are wrong?

  • Reply 13 of 106
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by hydr View Post

     

    Watch this and laugh:

    http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000201502&play=1


     

    $300 is the price where they will settle (what's that, a P/E of 6?)?????    Margins are too high?   What ecosystems exist outside of the US that are better than iCloud/iTMS/OSX....  Apple must beware of the Blackberry scenario...    David Pogue and the USA Today control the market, not Wall Street (Kramer).  

     

    Peter Misek is the optimist of the 2...  Now that's funny

     

    Amazing.   

  • Reply 14 of 106
    jragostajragosta Posts: 10,473member
    hydr wrote: »

    Total idiots. A fair price for AAPL is 300? And he says that's about where Google and MIcrosoft are?

    Maybe he should look at P/E as one metric. At 300, Apple's forward, cash adjusted P/E would be about 5. How in the world could he possibly justify that price?
  • Reply 15 of 106

    "implies a message from management that the company is back on track"

     

    Wake up. The company was never off track. The message is that you all stink at trying to figure out what Apple is up to and consistently underestimate them. The only think off-track is the share price.

  • Reply 16 of 106

    Thanks for the video hydr. I think it is insane that the analysts would in the same breath talk about Apple and Blackberry as if they have anything in common. Wow!!! Just Wow. 

     

    Were these guys previously weatherman ?

  • Reply 17 of 106
    Gene Munster and Jeffrey simply suck IMHO. "Sales are higher than expected but that may be due to retained inventory rather than sales to consumers"? What idiots. What haters.

    Let's recap. ANALysts expected sales of 5 million but sales were actually 9 million. Then ANALysts downplay the great sales and saying it may be something else?

    I live outside of Houston and the nearest space gray 64g 5s I can get from an apple store or AT&T is in some place in Mississippi. Does that seem like retained inventory or consumers actually buying the phones?

    The SEC needs to act on these idiots.

    Haters are gonna hate. That's their job right. I shouldn't be surprised.
  • Reply 18 of 106
    jungmarkjungmark Posts: 6,926member
    Analysts: Apple did beat our numbers but that's because of some acctg trickery. Never are we wrong.
  • Reply 19 of 106

    Why people listen to those folls?

     

    OH!, just look at talking heads on TV.

  • Reply 20 of 106
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by StruckPaper View Post

     

     

    Who in the world is qualified to lecture a company on pricing when they sold 9M phones in one weekend? You? Really? Are you not capable of changing your narrative and admitting that you are wrong?


     

    My narrative?

     


    I don't have a narrative. It is clear the iPhone 5c is selling far less than the 5s. Are you doubting that fact?


     


    Based on that I am speculating whether Apple mispriced the 5c, or if it was their plan all along. Based on their track record it is probably the latter.


     


    I don't have a narrative, and I am not saying Apple is doing it wrong.
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