Analysts bullish on first weekend iPhone X pre-orders as AAPL touches new high

On the heels of iPhone X pre-orders kicking off, Apple’s stock touched a new record high today. Despite pre-order numbers being unknown at this point, several analysts are bullish on early performance of the device and see the device being in high demand rather than purely plagued by low supply…

As noted by Reuters, Apple’s stock touched as high as $168.07 earlier today – a new record for the company. It also closed at a new record high, hitting $166.72. The new record comes following a rough few weeks for AAPL. Since the release of the iPhone 8 on September 12th, the stock had been down 2.5 percent until today’s jump.

GBH Insights analyst Daniel Ives is raising his iPhone X order predictions. The analyst predicts orders of 50 million iPhone X units during 2017, up from 40 million previously and higher than other analysts such as Ming-Chi Kuo of KGI. Ives called the first weekend of iPhone X sales a “stellar success.”

“With the official launch of iPhone X in Apple retail stores slated for this Friday, Nov. 3, we anticipate very high demand globally with limited supply of iPhone X on hand,” Ives said.

Meanwhile, Nomura Instinet analyst Jeffrey Kvval said that he sees the current 5-6 week shipping window as more of an indication of high demand rather than low supply. Though, Drexel Hamilton analyst Brian White says it’s more of a combination of both and that Apple was right to “highlight the demand side of the equation.”

“Although we believe Apple is benefiting from strong demand from the iPhone X, the company is also struggling with supply constraints,” White, who has a buy rating on Apple, said.

“A sound debate around the key driver for the surging shipping lead times can be made by reasonable people. Thus we believe it was important for Apple to highlight the demand side of the equation for the iPhone X.”

Analyst notes should always be taken with a grain of salt, especially concerning such a new device. Apple is set to release its Q4 earnings on Thursday and it’s likely we’ll get some more information about specific unit sales then. In the meantime, Apple says iPhone X demand is “off the charts.”

Subscribe to 9to5Mac on YouTube for more Apple news: