Above-Seasonal Pick-Up In PC Demand During Black Friday (HPQ, AAPL)

Analyst Richard Gardner of Citi Investment Research and Analysis says that the November PC sales data suggests that the seasonal demand for PCs was much higher than in earlier years.

According to NPD data, the PC sell through in US retail during November rose 53% YoY, as compared to 20% year-to-date growth during 2009. The month-over-month growth in November was 90%, as compared to the five-year average of 43%. Desktop PC demand during the month was driven primarily by Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Hewlett Packard (NYSE: HPQ). The analyst believes that desktop demand was driven by the strong adoption of the newly designed iMacs and the attractive discounts on lower-end HP units.

Apple’s iPods are tracking in-line with the December quarter estimates, while Macs are tracking ahead of the estimates. Citi Investment Research and Analysis believes that AAPL’s Q4 results would be ahead of the consensus.