52-week high for AAPL ahead of Tuesday’s earnings report

AAPL stock has hit a new 52-week high as the market opened this morning. The previous high for the past 12 months was $319.99, and the stock immediately hit $320.25.

At the time of writing, it’s around $322…

In addition to this morning’s 52-week high, the stock yesterday hit an all-time closing high, at $319.23. This gave the company a market cap of $1.399 trillion, ahead of Microsoft, Amazon, and Facebook.

While a 52-week high doesn’t mean much in isolation, supply-chain reports, government data, and consumer surveys all point to Apple reporting strong financials in Tuesday’s earnings report. There have been a series of indications that last year’s models are selling better than expected.

A CIRP report suggested that the three iPhone 11 models made up 69% of US iPhone sales in the holiday quarter, though also reported a fall in ASP.

Unsurprisingly, the cheaper iPhone 11 was most popular, accounting for 39% of all iPhones sold. The year-old iPhone XR also continues to sell well at its newly reduced $599 price point.

Comparing the holiday iPhone lineup between 2018 and 2019, CIRP reports that average selling price fell from $839 in December 2018 to about $809. As Apple reduced prices on the iPhone 11 by $50, some level of ASP decline was to be expected.

iPhone sales in China are also doing well after a difficult time.

iPhone sales growth is accelerating in China, Apple’s second biggest market after the US. The 6% year-on-year growth seen in September and October of last year hit 18.7% in December, according to official Chinese government data […]

Achieving significant growth in China is particularly impressive at a time when the market as a whole is declining: total smartphone shipments in the country were down more than 13% year-on-year.

The base model iPhone 11 is believed to be a particular factor, offering many of the features of the flagship Pro model at a far more affordable price point.

And earlier this week, Apple reportedly asked TSMC to boost A13 chip production.

The report says that the demand for iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro is ‘outperforming the market and Apple’s expectations.’ In turn, Apple is asking TSMC to increase production of the A13 processor to keep up with that demand. One person who spoke to Bloomberg specifically cited the entry-level iPhone 11 as “a particular driver for the increased demand.”

Apple is due to report its fiscal Q1 2020 (calendar Q4 2019) results on Tuesday. In addition to finding out how the company fared in the holiday quarter, investors will be anxious to hear Apple’s guidance for the current quarter.