Sales of the iPad are faltering. And the Apple Watch hasn’t exactly taken off. But that doesn’t matter when you make the iPhone.
Close Apple (AAPL) watchers, investment research firm UBS, Thursday boosted its estimate for Apple’s fiscal year 2015 earnings per share by 1.4% to $9.17 a share. The reason? The iPhone. Better-than-expected performance of Apple’s smartphone will result from a surge from demand in China, UBS says. UBS says Apple will sell 51.1 million iPhone units in the current quarter, beating the 45 million that’s expected on average by analysts, UBS says.
A stronger than expected quarter for iPhone sales could result in another better-than-expected quarter for revenue and earnings, UBS. That could be the spark needs. Shares of Apple have been stagnant since April 27 – when the company beat adjusted earnings estimates by 7%. It’s been one of the worst post-earnings reactions by the stock in months. Shares are down 5% since Apple reported its first-quarter results.
Chart source: S&P Capital IQ
UBS isn’t changing its price target based on the estimate change – holding it at $150. Shares of Apple rocketd $2.94, or 2.3%, to $128.98 Thursday. UBS’ iPhone forecasts have been pretty spot on historically.
Chart source: UBS
Investors must remember how much reliant Apple is on a product that’s now somewhat geriatric in technology terms – coming to its eighth birthday next month. Just that one product accounts for more than half of Apple’s stock price, says stock tracker, Trefis.
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