“Susquehanna Financial Group‘s Christopher Caso this afternoon reiterates a ‘Positive’ rating on Apple (AAPL) stock, and raises his price target to $650 from $625, writing that his ‘checks’ of Apple’s manufacturing partners and suppliers suggest that there has been a ‘significant production shift from iPhone 5C to 5S,’ which ‘imply a much stronger mix than originally anticipated,’ benefiting both revenue and margins,” Tiernan Ray reports for Barron’s.
Ray reports that Caso wrote in a note to clients, “‘Following our most recent checks, we believe December iPhone builds are running in the 52-54 mln range, essentially in-line with our October 8 checks but better than our read in early December. Our checks indicate the mix has indeed shifted disproportionately to iPhone 5S, with production of 5S running nearly 4x that of 5C. Importantly, we note there wasn’t a fall off in demand for iPhone 5S after the initial strength of the launch. This shift should have beneficial revenue and gross margin implications for AAPL in C4Q.'”
Read more in the full article here.