The holiday shopping season officially begins this week with Black Friday on November 28th as consumers are getting ready to line up to purchase their favorite electronics.
Electronic gifts are typically a consumer favorite during black Friday and the holidays in general as the Consumer Electronics Association has predicted a 2% increase in electronics spending and $616.9 billion in total spending this holiday season.
Tech giant Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) has been gearing up in preparation for the big sale day and the busy season.
Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Brian White thinks “the stars are well aligned for Apple to shine bright this holiday season,” giving the stock a Buy rating and a $143 price target on November 24th. He reasoned, “Apple’s significant portfolio refresh over the past three months, the lack of innovation from competitors and a constructive spending backdrop (e.g., lower gas prices, lower unemployment rate, rising consumer confidence, no government shutdown) in the U.S. market” make the company very attractive to consumers.
White currently has a 74% success rate recommending stocks and a +20.3% average return per recommendation. He has rated Apple 90 times, earning an 82% success rate recommending the stock.
Specifically, White is expecting big sales of Apple’s new iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, new slimmed down iPad Air 2, iPad mini 3 and gold colored iPad, and the entire Mac portfolio.
In past black Friday deals, Apple has offered a “special one-day Apple shopping event” with discounts across all of its products. However, last year Apple started offering Apple Store Gift Cards in replacement of cash discounts averaging about 15% off.
This year, Apple sent out a press release offering Apple customers a special edition (RED) iTunes gift card with the purchase of select Apple products. This is a part of the company’s campaign for the 2014 World AIDS Campaign.
Furthermore, Apple announced it will donate a portion of every sale at Apple’s retail and online stores to the (RED) AIDS campaign starting December 1st.
The Street blogger Chris Ciaccia backed White’s rating, saying that “Apple Is Absolutely Poised to Win Black Friday 2014.”
Ciaccia currently has a 60% success rate recommending stocks and a +14.1% average return per recommendation. He has recommended Apple 29 times with a 61% success rate recommending the stock.
On average, the top analyst consensus for Apple is Moderate Buy.
