Storage Company Weekly Notes: New Product Launches by WDC, SNDK, STX

-6.15%
Downside
76.18
Market
71.49
Trefis
SNDK: SanDisk logo
SNDK
SanDisk

Storage companies including Western Digital and SanDisk launched upgrades of existing product lines of high-capacity storage products this week, with  Western Digital introducing a monstrous 10 terabyte (1 terabyte = 1,000 gigabytes) helium drive on September 9 to take on its rival Seagate, which introduced an 8 terabyte hard drive at the end of August. On the other end of the storage spectrum, SanDisk launched a 512 GB SD card on September 11, targeting videographers. The newly introduced hard drives and SD card highlights an effort by storage companies to expand capacities from existing levels. Here’s a quick roundup on the developments in the storage industry.

Western Digital

Western Digital’s (NASDAQ:WDC) subsidiary HGST launched the Ultrastar He10 helium-filled hard drive with a 10TB capacity on September 9. The drive was an upgrade on He6, the 6TB helium drive that it launched in November last year (see: Western Digital’s Helium-Filled Drive: An Alternative To SSD?). These drives hermetically seal helium gas inside the drive, which results in low internal friction and low heating. With low turbulence, the drives can provide high input-output per second (IOPS) without losing efficiency, which is generally caused due to overheating.

  • Trefis has a $100 price estimate for Western Digital’s stock, implying a market cap of $23.5 billion. This is roughly in line with the market price between seen over the week.
  • We estimate the company’s 2014 revenues to be around $15.7 billion and earnings per share of $7.98 in FY 2015, compared to a consensus of $8.31 according to Reuters.
Relevant Articles
  1. SanDisk Beats Consensus On Revenue, EPS As Removable Storage Sales Rebound
  2. SanDisk Earnings Preview: SSD Sales To Continue To Drive Results
  3. How Has SanDisk’s SSD Division Performed Over The Last Few Years?
  4. What Is SanDisk’s Fundamental Value Based On Expected 2016 Results?
  5. What Will SanDisk’s Revenue And EBITDA Look Like In 5 Years?
  6. SSD, Embedded & Removable Storage: What’s SanDisk’s Revenue & Earnings Breakdown?

See our full analysis for Western Digital


Seagate

Seagate Technology (NASDAQ:STX) introduced high capacity 8TB hard drives at the end of August, which were at that time the world’s highest capacity drives. These drives weren’t made available for individual users, and were instead designed for enterprise usage in data centers. Western Digital introduced 10TB helium-filled hard drives this week to overshadow Seagate’s offerings.

  • Trefis has a $52 price estimate for Seagate’s stock, translating into a $17.1 billion market cap. This is about 15% below the market price between $60-$61 seen over the week.
  • We estimate the company’s 2014 revenues to be around $14.5 billion and earnings per share of $5.57 in FY 2015, compared to a consensus of $5.36 according to Reuters.

See Our Full Analysis For Seagate Technology

SanDisk

SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ:SNDK) introduced the world’s highest-capacity SD card with a capacity of 512 gigabytes. This was more than a thousand-fold increase in capacity for a memory card since the company launched a 512 MB SD card in 2003. The targeted customers for the Extreme PRO card are users that need large file handling capabilities,for instance, videographers who shoot ultra-HD (high resolution) videos or conduct high-speed photography. The card is priced at $800, while lower capacity versions – 256GB and 128GB – are available for $360 and $190, respectively.

  • Trefis has a revised $98 price estimate for SanDisk’s shares, translating into a $22.1 billion market cap. This is roughly in line with the market price between $98-$100 seen over the week.
  • We estimate the company’s 2014 revenues to be $6.9 billion and earnings per share of $5.78, compared to a consensus of $5.86 according to Reuters.

See our full analysis for SanDisk

See More at TrefisView Interactive Institutional Research (Powered by Trefis) | Get Trefis Technology