SanDisk initiated with a Buy at Citi

Citi analyst Asiya Merchant initiated coverage of SanDisk (SNDK) with a Buy rating and $57 price target The analyst expects second half of the year supply/demand improvement in the NAND market, with a subsequent favorable pricing inflection and potential for share gains in the growing enterprise solid state drives segment. Citi sees “durable, strong” underlying data center demand plus “stable-to-favorable” supply/demand conditions through 2026 for SanDisk supportive of pricing. Further, the company’s BiCS8 technology provides a “strong competitive moat” and is still in the early days of customer qualification with cloud players, contends Citi.