It wasn’t so long ago that watchers of Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) were concerned that declining smartphone sales in China would hurt Apple overall. Quite a bit of Apple’s business, after all, takes place therein. But Apple is up around 1.5% in Tuesday afternoon’s trading thanks to one big revelation: iPhone sales in China are coming back.
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The latest report from Counterpoint Research spells out a sigh of relief in the making for Apple and, by extension, its investors. Smartphone sales in China have actually been on the rise for the last four weeks. In addition, year-over-year comparisons are up 11%, though admittedly, Huawei is the primary beneficiary of that trend. What prompted the surge? You might already have guessed it: Singles Day. The massive shopping event prompted a lot of singles, and those celebrating singledom, to splurge on a new mobile device. That’s a complete turnaround, as device sales had been on the decline as macroeconomic issues were starting to hit China, too.
Apple’s Other Devices are Proving Troublesome, However
A recovery in iPhone sales is certainly welcome, but there are some other issues giving Apple fits right now. For instance, the issue known as “Dustgate” is picking up steam as MacBook Pro owners are increasingly hauling their devices in for repair. Dustgate focuses on an odd display issue caused by dust and dirt unexpectedly collecting at a screen hinge point. Meanwhile, Apple is facing some issues even trying to sell MacBook Pros, Dustgate or not; one report suggested that users simply wait for a more powerful processor to emerge from Apple as the M1 processors still “…have excess performance to this day.”
Is Apple a Buy, Sell, or Hold?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Strong Buy consensus rating on AAPL stock based on 24 Buys and eight Holds assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 26% rally in its share price over the past year, the average AAPL price target of $201.49 per share implies 7.2% upside potential.
