NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of Apple (AAPL) - Get Report are advancing by 0.41% to $126.93 in pre-market trading Friday, after analysts at UBS said its proprietary iPhone monitor tool shows March quarter demand of 66 million units, higher compared to consensus estimates of 54 million units. The firm's monitor tracks sell-through, or demand, while Apple reports sell-in.

UBS noted this morning that it believes China demand is driving the upside. The firm also sees potential for upside from iPhone user upgrades, as well as Samsung (SSNLF) users who are considering switching to Apple. 

The firm maintained its "buy" rating and a price target of $150 on shares of Apple, but upped its earnings and revenue estimates for the quarter.

However, payment service Apple Pay has come under scrutiny for fraudulent credit card transactions in recent weeks. They have stemmed from breaches at retailers including Home Depot (HD) - Get Report and Target (TGT) - Get Report.

In addition, it was announced that Apple will replace AT&T (T) - Get Report in the Dow Jones Industrial Average after the market closes on Wednesday, March 18. 

S&P Dow Jones Indices said the index change is due to Visa's (V) - Get Report 4:1 stock split, which will reduce the weighting of the information technology sector in the index.

Insight from TheStreet's Research Team:

Apple is a core holding of Jim Cramer's Action Alerts PLUS Charitable Trust Portfolio. During the most recent weekly roundup, this is what Jim Cramer, Portfolio Manager & Jack Mohr, Director of Research - Action Alerts PLUS had to say about the stock:

After having blown through our $125 price target and with shares are currently trading at all-time highs, we raised our price target this week on Apple to $150. We predicate our bullish thesis on several points. For starters, Apple is well positioned to capture the benefits of an accelerating smartphone upgrade cycle. Wireless-carrier behavior has recently been changing to allow consumers to upgrade their cell phones before the expiration of standard contracts. This change in behavior is a promotional tool used to help keep customers from switching carriers by making it easier for them to upgrade their iPhone to the newest version, rather than waiting the typical 2 years or more. Second, we have extensively discussed why we believe Apple Pay and Passbook have tremendous upside potential as consumers both domestically and internationally (see: China) are rapidly latching onto the product. We expect this momentum to continue and believe it will become increasingly embedded within the payment ecosystem in coming years. Apple Pay has already been such a huge success, but we still think we're in the early innings of its growth story.

We also see gross margin upside and believe the increased usage of apps coupled with higher- quality camera resolution will spur consumers to shift their preference permanently to higher memory in their smartphones, despite the higher costs. The final, and arguably most important, point we'd like to make is on valuation. Apple, simply, is still cheap, trading at 15x forward earnings and 12x excluding cash -- well below the S&P 500 at 17.7x and its peer group at 16x. We believe Apple deserves a market multiple, and we would be happy to pay 17.5x 2015 EPS of $8.60, which gets us to a $150 price target (up $25 from our previous target). We are buyers on any sharp pullback.

- Jim Cramer and Jack Mohr, 'Weekly Roundup' originally published 2/27/2015 on ActionAlertsPLUS.com.

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Separately, TheStreet Ratings team rates APPLE INC as a Buy with a ratings score of A+. TheStreet Ratings Team has this to say about their recommendation:

"We rate APPLE INC (AAPL) a BUY. This is based on the convergence of positive investment measures, which should help this stock outperform the majority of stocks that we rate. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its solid stock price performance, impressive record of earnings per share growth, compelling growth in net income, revenue growth and notable return on equity. Although the company may harbor some minor weaknesses, we feel they are unlikely to have a significant impact on results." You can view the full analysis from the report here: AAPL Ratings Report