With Apple (AAPL) having announced today that it will open its store in New York City’s Grand Central Terminal this Friday, December 9th, Barclays Capital’s Ben Reitzes took the opportunity to share his thoughts on the company’s retail business.
Although last quarter’s (fiscal Q4) retail revenue rose only 1%, year over year, Reitzes thinks retail revenue growth will “re-accelerate” in “upcoming quarters” thanks to both new store introductions and the unveiling this quarter of the iPhone 4S:
While Apple opened 30 new stores in the September quarter (21 of which were outside the United States), on the last weekend of the quarter, the company opened 7 stores in six countries including the first store in Hong Kong. For the December quarter, having these stores open for the entire period, along with a new iPhone 4S and the Grand Central opening � we expect retail to get a big boost. Apple ended the September quarter with a total of 357 stores and plans to open 40 new stores in FY12 (3/4 international). For FY12, we estimate that retail segment sales will grow 20% vs. 44% in FY11, helped by new international stores in prime locations.
Reitzes maintains an Overweight rating on shares of Apple and a $555 price target.
Apple shares today are down $1.15, or 0.3%, at $391.86.
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