“Bernstein Research’s Toni Sacconaghi today reiterates an Outperform rating on Apple stock, and a $108 price target, warning that Apple may miss high expectations for first-weekend sales of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus when they go on sale this Friday, but that it may not matter much,” Tiernan Ray reports for Barron’s.
Ray reports, “Sacconaghi urges investors not to read to much into weak numbers: ‘Although we see the potential for first weekend sales to disappoint vs. expectations that now appear to be as high as 10M+ units, it is important for investors to keep in mind that ‘first weekend sales’ are principally a function of available supply rather than iPhone demand, as they represents actual shipments to customers and channel partners vs. ‘orders’ (which may or may not have shipped). Accordingly, we would view any ‘disappointment’ as a potential red herring, given the ostensible greater-than-normal supply constraints Apple appears to be experiencing. Ironically, a slower ramp may ultimately be beneficial for Apple – a later China rollout (and later Chinese New Year) could push sales into CY Q1, helping smooth the iPhone’s typical March quarter falloff, and Q2 could benefit from the iWatch launch.'”
Read more in the full article here.
Pardon me, lower than expected sales numbers?
“Analyst” just wanted to appear in the news.
No reason to claim Apple may miss expectation in iPhone sales.
Remember that two years ago iPhone 5 got 2 million orders in the first 24 hours (last year is not comparable since the data was for almost three days and with the inclusion of cheaper iPhone 5C model).
This means 100% growth in two years, and this is without China participating, so it is fair figure.
Oh.
So sales may or may not disappoint, depending on what you expect to happen? Now there’s a brilliant statement!
So if your expectations are foolish, don’t be disappointed? Where does this guy get such brilliant insights?
I thought I recognized the name: “[Apple should sell 7.9 million iPhones in 2008]… Apple’s goal of selling 10 million iPhones this year is optimistic.” — Toni Sacconaghi, Bernstein Research analyst, February 22, 2008.
FY2008 sales were 11.63M
CY2008 sales were 13.67M
So since Toni thought *that* 10M estimate was high, but it was low, perhaps this weekend will register sales of 11M-14M 🙂
10 million? It took the Samsung Galaxy S5 a month to reach those numbers.
It didn’t even come close to selling 1 million. Analist estimates range between 62 and 100 units sold worldwide but no one can agree on definition of ‘sold’ so it’s still up in the air at the moment
I think sales are going to be weird this time around. It seems as if Apple is in short supply of some configurations so in some sense it will be “they’ll sell what they have”, but a lot of people who normally buy on launch day are wanting to see what the new phones look and feel like before deciding between the two. Launch day lines are going to move slower this year. Like last year, a lot of people will go away empty handed due to lack of stock.
However, what really matters is the long-game and how many units Apple continues to sell through the year. I think a lot of people are going to come back from Android now that Apple has larger iPhones.
I have something that works as good as an analyst: a blindfold and a dartboard with estimated numbers.
Even better: no numbers on the dartboard. Just toss the darts and make a wild-ass guess.
Sacconaghi urges investors not to read to much into weak numbers
There AREN’T any ‘weak numbers’. What a silly waste of time article. Dime-A-Dozen silliness these days.
OMG. I about fell over at the headline! Disappoint!? Literally LOL.
Guy is a silly rabbit!