William Power of R.W. Baird Sunday evening reflects on Apple‘s (AAPL) announcement over the weekend that it sold over two million units of the iPhone 5 in China since the device went on sale at retail Friday, calling it a new record, and arguing it contradicts negative reports Friday of small lines at retail stores in China.
Power, who has an Outperform rating on Apple shares and a $750 price target, thinks the first-weekend number compares favorably to previous releases:
First weekend China sales of 2 million units compares to first weekend sales of 5 million units for Apple’s first nine markets, a strong comparison in our view. Notably, in 2010, Apple sold only 1.7 million iPhone 4 units in its first weekend of sales in five markets (U.S., U.K., France, Germany, Japan).
As Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray opined on Friday, Power thinks the lack of lines was a technical fluke, owing to changes in the order process (pre-orders, etc.) He reiterates a view of 46.7 million iPhone units to be sold this quarter.
Power’s report is in contrast to a downgrade tonight of Apple stock by Citigroup’s Glen Yeung.
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