Analyst: Behold Apple’s Bestseller

The iPhone 5 was the bestselling smartphone in the U.S. market in the December quarter and gave Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) product margins over the three-month period a significant boost, Canaccord Genuity analyst Michael Walkley has said. The analyst added that the Apple smartphone’s demand-supply balance had finally been reached.

“Our December wireless store surveys indicated strong sales of the top-selling iPhone 5 at AT&T (NYSE:T)/Verizon (NYSE:VZ)/Sprint (NYSE:S),” Walkley wrote in a note to investors, according to Forbes. “Our surveys further indicated improved overall supply of the iPhone 5 with essentially all stores offering all SKUs of the iPhone 5. We believe the iPhone 5 was the top selling smartphone at AT&T/Sprint/Verizon and overall the best selling smartphone in the U.S. market.”

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Because of the high sales of what is essentially Apple’s highest-margin product, Walkley felt that the company’s guidance for that particular statistic for the quarter was too conservative. “Given our estimative for a 79 percent sequential unit increase in iPhone sales that represent Apple’s highest-margin hardware product line, we believe Apple’s December quarter gross margin guidance of 36 percent could prove conservative, and we are modeling 39.1 percent,” he added.

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However, because sales of the older iPhone 4 had also been strong, Walkley, who has a price target of $750 on Apple’s stock, lowered the company’s earnings per share estimate for the fiscal 2013 to $50.25 from $51.95.

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