Kaufman Bros. analyst Shaw Wu may be bullish on Apple, but that isn’t stopping him from scaling back on his third quarter iPhone sales estimate because of parts supply issues. His new Q3 iPhone sales estimate is down 1.5 million units from 9 million to 7.5 million, according to Fortune.
“Based on our more detailed analysis of supply chain data, we are shifting our iPhone assumptions to latter quarters due to the high likelihood that an inventory drawdown and screen supply constraints could impact near-term shipments over the next two quarters,” Mr. Wu said.
The Wall Street consensus puts Apple’s Q3 iPhone sales at 8.5 million, a figure that Mr. Wu now thinks is too high. “We believe most Street estimates have not factored this in and thus we believe consensus at 8.5 million iPhones for the June quarter may likely prove too aggressive,” he said.
While iPhone sales may not come in as high as Mr. Wu earlier predicted, he still sees some strong numbers in Apple’s future. He raised iPad estimates for the quarter from 3.3 million up to 3.5 million, and is now predicting fourth quarter iPhone sales will hit 10.5 million, up from his earlier 10.3 million estimate.
Mr. Wu is also raising his target price for Apple’s stock from US$342 up to $349, and maintaining his “Buy” rating.
Apple is currently trading at $250.81, up 3.87 (1.57%).