Analyst: Buy Apple shares; U.S. hardware demand held up better than usual last month

Demand for Apple products in the U.S. held up better than usual in January, and there are other reasons Apple shares could rally further, according to KeyBanc Capital Markets.Connor Smith for Barron’s:Analyst Brandon Nispel wrote in a note on Tuesday that an analysis of 1.8 million unique U.S. credit and debit card customers’ transactions showed a 28% decline in hardware spending in January from the previous month, when looking at Apple purchases above $399. However, the falloff from