Apple Inc (AAPL)

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Jefferies Discusses iPad Checks (AAPL)

By Roger Nachman
Benzinga Staff Writer
April 01, 2011 7:27 AM

Jefferies & Co. is out with a research report on Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) and channel checks on iPad 2 sales.

In a note to clients, Jefferies writes, "iPad 2 checks show that Best Buy stores are receiving regular shipment (some more than once a week) with the typical suburban store getting 15 to 20 and selling out in 4 hours. There are ~1,300 Best Buy and Best Buy Mobile stores selling the iPad 2. Takeaway: we estimate that 3%-5% of global iPad 2 shipments will go through Best Buy (we assume Apple stores will be the dominant channel), implying 8M to 11M iPads on a quarterly basis vs. our CQ2 estimate of 9.4M.

Apple expanding iPad 2 display supply: according to Economic Daily News, Apple is lining up 30M screens annually from AU Optronics and will pay three to four times the typical price of panels that size. Takeaway: Apple is increasing capacity as the iPad 2 has received stronger demand than expected and is still out of stock globally."

Shares of AAPL are up $1.26 in pre-market trading to $349.77, a gain of 0.36%.

[The AU Optronics story has since been debunked. Not so, in other words.]