Piper Jaffray on Apple: iPads Sold Out

Piper Jaffray has published a research report on Apple

commenting on the company's sold-out iPad inventory. In the report, Piper Jaffray writes, "On 3/11, four days following the announcement of the new iPad (3/7), Apple indicated that pre-order inventory is sold out. According to USA Today Apple said, "Customer response to the new iPad has been off the charts and the quantity available for pre-order has been purchased." Specifically, the new iPad was available to pre-order on 3/7 (with a delivery date of 3/16), and on 3/11 the company extended the delivery date to 3/19 and then to "2-3 weeks." Clearly, this is a positive sign for demand of the new iPad, particularly because initial supply appeared to be strong for the first few days of pre-orders. Ultimately, this new information and our analysis of previous Apple product launches (below) suggests Apple will sell over 1m iPads on launch day (3/16)." Piper Jaffray maintains its Overweight rating and $670 price target on Apple, which is currently trading up $4.25 from Friday's $545.17 closing price.