Piper Jaffray Gives Apple's Jan. NPD Preview

Apple's AAPL NPD data for January will be released today around 2 PM ET and will represent some of the first data points for Apple's March quarter. For both Mac and iPod, Piper Jaffray expects YoY growth rates for domestic NPD data that are in line with Piper's and Street models. Piper is modeling for Mac sales to be up 22% y/y in the March quarter, and it expects Mac NPD in the month of Jan. to be up 15% to 25% y/y. It is modeling iPod sales to be down 6% y/y in the March quarter, and Piper expects iPod NPD in January to be down 5% to 10% y/y. New MacBook Pros May Cause Backend-Loaded NPD In March Quarter. Apple recently pushed lead times for MacBook Pros from same-business-day to 3-5 days, which, late in a product cycle, has typically suggested new models arriving soon. Also, several media sources have indicated that Apple may release updated MacBook Pros in late Feb. or early March. Piper Jaffray has a $483 PT and Overweight rating on AAPL AAPL closed Friday at $350.56