AAPL : NASDAQ : US$99.76
BUY
Target: US$120.00
Technology — Communications Technology — Wireless Equipment
STRONG RESULTS; RECORD IPHONE 6 UPGRADE CYCLE DRIVES SOLID Q1/F’15 GUIDANCE
Investment recommendation:
Apple reported strong September quarter results above our and consensus estimates. Consistent with our surveys
indicating very strong global iPhone 6 demand with limited supply, Apple
issued strong Q1/F’15 EPS guidance slightly above our estimates as Apple is
currently selling all iPhone 6 devices it can produce. Please see our October
13 report titled “Monthly surveys indicate very strong iPhone 6/6 Plus
demand; limited supply” for more details on our survey work.
We maintain our expectations for a record iPhone 6 upgrade cycle driven by strong
replacement sales to existing iPhone customers and strong high-end
smartphone market share gains due to our surveys indicating a greater mix
of Android smartphone consumers switching to the iPhone 6 smartphones
than during the iPhone 5 series launches. Mac sales were also above our
expectations as Apple gained material PC market share during the important
back-to-school season. We reiterate our BUY rating and increase our price
target to $120 from $115.
Investment highlights
Apple reported Q4/F’14 sales of $42.1B and EPS of $1.42, above our
$39.7B/$1.28 and consensus of $40.0B/$1.30. The strong results were
driven primarily by stronger iPhone sales of 39.3M units at $606 ASP
versus our above-consensus 37.7M/$574 estimates.
We believe Apple’s Q1/’15 sales guidance in the range of $63.5-66.5B
was adversely impacted by F/X from the stronger dollar and iPhone
demand well above Apple’s ability to supply throughout the December
quarter. Our updated estimates are at the high-end of Apple’s guidance
due to our surveys indicating an increasing sales mix of higher-ASP
64GB (versus 16GB) iPhone 6/6 Plus SKUs combined with a growing
demand for the higher-ASP iPhone 6 Plus, particularly in China. We
anticipate materially higher iPhone ASPs during Q1/F’15 and maintain
above-consensus iPhone ASP of $680 adjusting for deferred revenue.
Given the strong results and guidance, we maintain our bullish F2015
product cycle thesis and raise our F’15/F’16 EPS estimates from
$7.77/$8.19 to $8.00/$8.50.
Valuation:
Our $120 price target is based on shares trading at roughly 14x
our F2016 EPS estimate.
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