Apple products are not only hot selling items this holiday, they are also popular online buying tools
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| The first customer of the tablet iPad in an Apple Store in Amsterdam |
Apple shares rose to the highest level this year as investors bet
products like the latest iPads and iPhones will be hot sellers this
holiday, helping the consumer technology giant kick-start earnings
growth again.
The stock climbed 1.9% to $556.07 Friday. Earlier in the day, it touched $594.59, a 2013 high.
Apple unveiled two new iPhones earlier this year and more recently launched the new iPad Air and an upgraded iPad mini.
The
iPad mini was among top sellers at Walmart on Thanksgiving, while
Target said the iPad Air was a hot item at its stores. On eBay.com, one
iPad was selling every second as of midnight on Thanksgiving.
"Apple
products should be the holiday gift of choice this year," said Brian
Marshall, an analyst at ISI Group. "The company has a great product
cycle currently, the stock is cheap and we expect $600 within the next
several months."
Apple gadgets are also popular shopping tools.
Mobile devices running on the company's iOS operating system --
basically iPads and iPhones -- made up more than a quarter of all online
traffic to major retail websites early on Black Friday. These devices
also accounted for 18% of all online sales in the period, according to
IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark.
Apple shares have lagged
technology sector rivals and the broader stock market this year on
concern about a lack of earnings growth and a slim pipeline of new
products.
However, investors have recently become more confident
that earnings growth will resume in 2014, according to Walter Piecyk, an
analyst at BTIG.
There's also hope that China Mobile, the largest
wireless carrier in that country, will soon start selling Apple
products, he noted.
Japan's largest carrier, NTT Docomo, recently
started offering iPhones and that helped Apple grab 76% of smartphone
sales in the country in October, according to research firm Kantar
Worldpanel ComTech.
"We would attribute the recent jump [in Apple
shares] to a combination of renewed China Mobile speculation and strong
product positioning heading into the holidays, including much improved
iPhone supply," said Will Power, an analyst at RW Baird.
Gene
Munster, an analyst at Piper Jaffray, checked 60 Apple stores recently
and found that 90% of iPhone 5s models were available on average. That
was up from 31% two weeks earlier and 10% at the beginning of October.
"We
view the improvement in supply as an encouraging sign that Apple has
begun to catch up to demand," Munster wrote in a note to investors.
source: usatoday.com
