Despite fears that recent Covid outbreaks in China would severely impact Apple's operations, the consumer electronics giant is faring better than expected, a Wall Street analyst said. Apple stock rose on Friday.
"Over the last few weeks, our Asia iPhone supply chain checks have been 'surprisingly resilient' despite the zero Covid (policy) driven demand issues in China that remain the elephant in the room for the Apple story in the Street's eyes," Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives said in a note to clients Friday.
IPhone demand in China is "holding up better than expected" in the face of China's Covid lockdowns, he said. Apple's operations in China "are trending better than management's guidance thus far in the quarter," Ives said.
He reiterated his outperform rating on Apple stock with a 12-month price target of 200.
Apple Stock Near Recent Low
On the stock market today, Apple stock climbed 0.2% to close at 137.59. Earlier in the session, Apple stock hit a 10-month low of 132.61.
On April 28, Apple warned that Covid-related shutdowns in China and semiconductor shortages would lower its June-quarter sales by $4 billion to $8 billion. Apple stock fell 3.7% on that warning.
Once Apple gets through the June quarter, attention will shift to the production and launch of the iPhone 14 in September, Ives said.
Mixed-Reality Headset Moves Closer To Launch
Meanwhile, news reports indicate that Apple is getting close to producing a mixed-reality headset.
Bloomberg reported Thursday that Apple executives showed the headset to the company's board. The device would combine elements of virtual reality and augmented reality and run a new operating system called rOS, short for reality operating system, Bloomberg said.
Apple is likely to unveil the headset to the public later this year or early next year, Bloomberg said.
Follow Patrick Seitz on Twitter at @IBD_PSeitz for more stories on consumer technology, software and semiconductor stocks.
