Investment bank Rosenblatt Securities has initiated coverage on storage chip manufacturer SanDisk (SNDK.US), issuing a "Buy" rating and setting a price target of $2,400.
Analyst Kevin Cassidy wrote in a note to clients: "The emergence of new AI computing platforms is creating an opportunity to reposition NAND flash memory from a commoditized storage medium into a more critical component of AI infrastructure. Historically, NAND demand in consumer electronics, PCs, and smartphones has been primarily driven by increases in storage density and reductions in per-bit costs."
"However, in AI systems, as model scales expand and demand for data-intensive inference grows, the market is placing increasing emphasis on storage density, performance, durability, and supply certainty rather than solely the absolute lowest price. Bringing NAND closer to the compute engine can enhance its value to the overall system. SanDisk's technology roadmap supports this opportunity. With technology and manufacturing partner Kioxia, the company has accumulated approximately 25 years of expertise in advanced NAND process technology."
"Its BiCS8 and BiCS10 platforms enhance areal density and scaling capabilities, achieving comparable per-die capacity with fewer 3D stacking layers compared to certain competitors' approaches. We believe this helps establish a favorable unit bit cost curve and sustains its performance and cost advantages in enterprise-grade storage aimed at AI applications," the analyst added.
The analyst further noted that given SanDisk's "New Business Model" agreements with the world's eight largest NAND customers, management's confidence in achieving mid-to-high single-digit revenue growth guidance for fiscal 2028 through fiscal 2030 is well-founded.
These agreements could enhance demand visibility and reduce the volatility historically associated with NAND cyclicality. Based on this framework, the analyst conservatively estimates non-GAAP earnings per share (EPS) of approximately $300 by fiscal 2030.
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