Flash memory and consumer device maker SanDisk
What analysts say:
- Buy, sell, or waffle? Twenty analysts follow Sandisk. While 10 of them recommend buying the stock, nine are asking you to just hold on for now, and a lone analyst is saying "sell."
- Revenues. Analysts are looking for a 34% year-over-year improvement in sales, to $691 million.
- Earnings. The average analyst forecast calls for $0.44 of quarterly GAAP profits, up from $0.37 a year ago.
What management says:
SanDisk management is bullish on the future of flash memory and the devices it powers. The company is planning to build a $5.2 billion memory-chip factory in Japan, in partnership with Toshiba, and the product launches are coming hard and fast. And with the launch of iDont.com, SanDisk seems to have a large chip on its shoulder regarding the media-player market.
What management does:
Even Apple
Margins % |
1/05 |
4/05 |
7/05 |
10/05 |
1/06 |
4/06 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Gross |
38.0 |
38.8 |
39.0 |
40.8 |
41.6 |
40.0 |
Operating |
23.0 |
22.7 |
21.5 |
23.2 |
24.5 |
22.6 |
Net |
15.0 |
15.1 |
14.4 |
15.7 |
16.8 |
14.0 |
One Fool says:
SanDisk's stock has taken a beating lately, dropping more than 25% in the past month on no particular bad news, except for far-future speculation -- more on that in a second, though. It's true that the stock market has been taking a nosedive as well, and that technology companies like this one usually magnify any general market up- or downturns. But has SanDisk been punished in excess?
The company seems to be planning ahead with the chip manufacturing expansion, and its integrated end-to-end parts and end-product manufacturing capacity gives it better margins than most any hardware manufacturer out there. Micron
Freescale
Competitors:
- Micron
- Apple
- Freescale Semiconductor
-
Spansion
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Infineon
(NYSE:IFX) - Imation
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Creative
(NASDAQ:CREAF) - Samsung
Fool contributor Anders Bylund owns none of the stocks discussed here. If you can't remember the Fool's disclosure rules , these companies have some memory to sell you. You can check out Anders' holdings for yourself.