SanDisk Corp Stock Buy Recommendation Reiterated (SNDK)

Editor's Note: TheStreet ratings do not represent the views of TheStreet's staff or its contributors. Ratings are established by computer based on metrics for performance (which includes growth, stock performance, efficiency and valuation) and risk (volatility and solvency). Companies with poor cash flow or high debt levels tend to earn lower ratings in our model.

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- SanDisk (Nasdaq:SNDK) has been reiterated by TheStreet Ratings as a buy with a ratings score of B- . Among the primary strengths of the company is its solid financial position based on a variety of debt and liquidity measures that we have evaluated. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had lackluster performance in the stock itself.

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Highlights from the ratings report include:

• Although SNDK's debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23 is very low, it is currently higher than that of the industry average.
• The revenue fell significantly faster than the industry average of 23.3%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues fell by 10.1%. Weakness in the company's revenue seems to have hurt the bottom line, decreasing earnings per share.
• The share price of SANDISK CORP has not done very well: it is down 8.64% and has underperformed the S&P 500, in part reflecting the company's sharply declining earnings per share when compared to the year-earlier quarter. Despite the stock's decline during the last year, it is still somewhat more expensive (in proportion to its earnings over the last year) than most other stocks in its industry. We feel, however, that other strengths this company displays offset this slight negative.
• SANDISK CORP has exprienced a steep decline in earnings per share in the most recent quarter in comparison to its performance from the same quarter a year ago. Earnings per share have declined over the last year. We anticipate that this should continue in the coming year. During the past fiscal year, SANDISK CORP reported lower earnings of $4.04 versus $5.42 in the prior year. For the next year, the market is expecting a contraction of 55.4% in earnings ($1.80 versus $4.04).
• The company, on the basis of change in net income from the same quarter one year ago, has significantly underperformed when compared to that of the S&P 500 and the Computers & Peripherals industry. The net income has significantly decreased by 67.2% when compared to the same quarter one year ago, falling from $233.25 million to $76.51 million.

Sandisk Corporation designs, develops, and manufactures NAND flash memory storage solutions that are used in various consumer electronics products. SanDisk has a market cap of $10.35 billion and is part of the technology sector and computer hardware industry. The company has a P/E ratio of 21.5, above the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7. Shares are down 10.5% year to date as of the close of trading on Friday.

You can view the full SanDisk Ratings Report or get investment ideas from our investment research center.

--Written by a member of TheStreet Ratings Staff.

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