Shares of SanDisk lower in early market trading on Monday morning after cutting fiscal fourth quarter revenue estimates, saying that its sales of its retail product lineup were below company expectations. SanDisk originally estimated revenue to range between $1.8 and $1.85 billion for the quarter that ended in December. Now the company estimates that revenue will be reported at $1.73 billion with adjusted gross margin suspected of coming in at 45%, versus the original estimated 47%-49%. SanDisk will report fourth quarter earnings on January 21st.
Despite revision in revenue to the downside, SanDisk has been reliable, returning 35.23% last year compared to the S&P 500’s 11% return in 2014. Despite this hiccup, SanDisk is still widely backed by analysts, carrying a “strong buy” rating and is planning to more widely target tablets and smartphones for storage solutions.
SanDisk set to release Ultra Dual USB 3.0
SanDisk is set to release their Ultra Dual USB 3.0, which also has a micro-USB for being used in the smartphone to save and manage content and data. Then with SanDisk’s app (only for Android) Memory Zone, it is easy to upload various parts such as photos, music, etc to the micro-USB end, which then could be transferred to your laptop or computer via the regular USB 3.0. In addition to saving various files and content, the 64GB device allows a mobile user to free up space on their phone, while having extra storage on hand and making the phone faster. This is certainly a very smart move by SanDisk because there are very few options and methods currently that allow mobile users to save pictures (for one thing!) and other content, which then could be sent to your regular computer for safe keeping.
SanDisk working on affordable SSD
In addition, SanDisk is working on a lineup of new, affordable solid state drives (SSD) that are created to boost performance. The SanDisk SSD Plus and the Ultra II mSATA SSD will be unveiled at the International Consumer Electronics Show, but from what we know now, the SSDs are 23 times faster than the traditional hard drive. The Ultra II mSATA SSD, for instance, will have speeds up to 550 MB/s and have storage capacity of up to 512GB. The SSD Plus is said to start at $69.99 and the Ultra II mSATA SSD is said to have a starting price of $73.99, the products are set to launch during the first quarter 2015.
While SanDisk may not have had the holiday season they were looking for, the company is still one of the top storage and memory providers in the world. The company is continuing to target key niche markets such as smartphones and tablets, instead of relying on the traditional flash drive. Also, the upgraded SSDs for desktop and laptop could provide a big boost to the company, as consumers and enterprises look for affordable storage upgrades. Ultimately, this quarter looks to be a rough one for SanDisk, but they still have plenty of ideas to success.
Disclosure: None
