Surprise … surprise it looks like sales of the iPhone will continue to decline until the next-generation model hits the market. This estimate comes from Mike Walkley of Canaccord Genuity after he gave Apple stock a price target of $740, at a ‘Buy’ rating. The analyst believes the shrinking iPhone numbers will not disrupt future earnings, instead, he believes the tech giant will post strong results for the second fiscal quarter ended in March.
“Our recent channel checks indicate modestly slowing iPhone 4S sell-through trends in developed markets,” Walkley wrote. “We have lowered near-term iPhone unit estimates, but we have increased our F2013 iPhone estimates as we anticipate very strong demand for an LTE iPhone 5 ramping during the December quarter. We maintain our belief Apple is well positioned for strong sales and earnings growth driven by new product introductions across its portfolio.”
This news should’t come to anyones surprise, as most analyst love to state the painfully obvious, it’s their job. Sales have always tapered down when people expect the latest and greatest smartphone from Apple — so this revelation is so trivial. Most analysts expect the new iPhone to be released in the third quarter, which is sometime in the fall.
[via bgr]