Evercore says Apple’s quarterly App Store revenue growth ahead of expectations

Evercore ISI analyst Amit Daryanani notes that App Store revenue grew 13% in December, which was a deceleration from the 17% growth rate in November. However, despite the modest step down to end the quarter, growth of 15% for the December-end quarter “still came in ahead of our original expectations,” says the analyst, who adds that Apple (AAPL) guided services growth to about 13% in the quarter so 15% growth out of the App Store “should support some modest upside.” Evercore has an Outperform rating and $250 price target on Apple shares.