In a note to clients — as reported by “Barron’s” (http://macte.ch/Vagul) Canaccord Genuity’s Mike Walkley has raised his price target on Apple shares to US$545 from $515, reiterating a Buy rating, writing that “channel checks” suggest sell-through was “strong” in August for both the iPhone and the iPad.
“Our August checks indicated the iPhone 4 remained the top selling smartphone at AT&T (T) and Verizon [Communications (VZ)] despite consumer speculation regarding the upcoming iPhone 5 launch,” he writes. ““Further, we believe Sprint[-Nextel (S)] will receive the new iPhone at launch and heavily promote it given the carrier’s unlimited data plan.”
Walkley raised his calendar 2011 iPhone estimate to 83 million units from 80 million, and raised his calendar 2012 estimate to 107 million units from 105 million. He now estimates Apple may sell 59 million iPad units next year, up from a prior estimate of 56 million.