One of the folks at one of the banks has been eyeing credit and debit card transactions, and seeing good things for Apple. On Tuesday, Benzinga wrote up part of a note from KeyBanc Capital Markets analyst Brandon Nispel. He’s had a look at his firm’s Key First-Look Data, or KFLD. That “consists of spending data from over 1.8 million unique KeyBank credit card and debit card customers in the U.S. but not international figures,” according to the report. And that shows serious buying over the holidays.
Apple CFO Luca Maestri set strong expectations for the holiday-quarter. On the last earnings call, he said the company expected every category except for iPad to beat revenue for the same quarter a year earlier. And yet, Benzinga says the Street’s expecting “a below-typical seasonal growth quarter” due to tough compares with the holiday-quarter of 2020. Checking transaction statements, Nispel’s siding with Maestri. Looking at the KMFDM… I’m sorry, the KLF? Anyway - the info he’s seen indicates an “18% sequential growth in the fourth quarter, stronger than the previous three-year average of 13%,” according to the report. "For the quarter,” wrote the analyst, “the data tells us we should expect slightly better than historical growth for Hardware in the upcoming quarter.”
It’s not just about how Apple did, though. Nispel sees the anticipated holiday numbers as a good sign for things to come. The analyst says the sales have led to “increased confidence that despite supply constraints, Apple's U.S. hardware growth should remain strong…”
KeyBanc has an “Overweight” rating on Apple shares. The firm’s price target on the shares is $191.
