FORTUNE — “I think it’s going to be an iPad Christmas,” Tim Cook told analysts last month, and it looks like he may be right.
Apple (AAPL) shares closed at 556.07 Friday, up $37.37 (7%) for the week amid signs that tablets were among the hottest sellers at the start of the 2013 holiday buying frenzy, Apple’s iPads most of all.
Led by the iPad Mini, Walmart (WMT) sold 1.4 million tablets in record Black Friday sales. At Target (TGT), iPads were the three top sellers among the first 3,000 customers surveyed by infoScout. Before it ran out of stock, Target was selling iPad Airs for 40% off. But all the big U.S. retailers were using discounted iPads as crowd-drawing “door busters” — even Apple.
In the Thanksgivukkah-shortened three-and-a half-day-week, traders rewarded Apple twice: First following reports that the company had plenty of iPads and iPhones in supply, then late in the week when it became clear that the demand was there as well.
