Core Insights - NetApp, Inc. (NTAP) is set to announce its second-quarter fiscal 2026 earnings on November 25, with expected non-GAAP earnings per share between $1.84 and $1.94, and a Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.89, indicating a 1.1% growth year-over-year [1][2] Financial Performance - Anticipated net sales for the quarter are projected to be between $1.615 billion and $1.765 billion, with a Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.69 billion, reflecting a 1.7% increase from the previous year [2] - NTAP has exceeded earnings estimates in three of the last four quarters, with an average surprise of 1.68% [2] Demand and Growth Drivers - There is a rising demand for NetApp's modern all-flash arrays, particularly the C-series capacity flash and ASA block-optimized flash, which are expected to drive sustained performance [3] - The annualized revenue run rate for NetApp's all-flash array increased by 6% year-over-year to $3.6 billion in the fiscal first quarter, supported by strong customer engagement [4] - The Hybrid Cloud segment is estimated to generate revenues of $1.51 billion in the fiscal second quarter, marking a 1.1% increase from the prior year [4] AI and Cloud Solutions - Increased demand for cloud storage and AI solutions is promising, with over 125 AI and data lake modernization deals secured in the fiscal first quarter [5] - The Public Cloud segment's revenues rose by 1% to $161 million in the last reported quarter, with a projected growth of 6.4% year-over-year to $178.7 million in the fiscal second quarter [6] Market Conditions - The global macroeconomic environment remains uncertain, with inflation pressures and elevated volatility potentially impacting fiscal second-quarter results [7] Earnings Prediction Model - Current models do not predict an earnings beat for NTAP, with an Earnings ESP of -0.12% and a Zacks Rank of 4 [8]

Core Viewpoint - Oppenheimer has initiated coverage on several technology companies, highlighting their potential in the evolving landscape of data storage, cloud computing, and cybersecurity, with varying ratings based on their growth prospects and market positions [1] Group 1: Pure Storage (PSTG) - Oppenheimer initiated coverage with an Outperform rating and a price target of $120, citing Pure Storage as a beneficiary of the increasing creation and storage of unstructured data for AI applications [1] - The company is expected to gain market share in the all-flash array market due to its technological advantages and is expanding its customer base to include tier-1 and tier-2 hyperscalers [1] Group 2: Akamai (AKAM) - Oppenheimer initiated coverage with an Outperform rating and a price target of $100, believing Akamai will benefit from trends in AI inferencing within cloud computing and API security in cybersecurity [1] - The transformation of Akamai is seen as a key factor in enhancing its growth profile [1] Group 3: Fastly (FSLY) - Oppenheimer initiated coverage with a Perform rating, acknowledging recent operational improvements but remaining cautious until a strong continuation in performance is observed [1] Group 4: NetApp (NTAP) - Oppenheimer initiated coverage with a Perform rating, recognizing NetApp as a leading provider of data storage solutions [1] - The company is currently facing near-term growth challenges, particularly in the US Public Sector and EMEA regions [1] Group 5: Rubrik (RBRK) - Oppenheimer initiated coverage with a Perform rating, agreeing with consensus on Rubrik's product differentiation and market opportunity [1] - The neutral view is attributed to increasing competition in cyber-resilience and the belief that the stock is fairly valued at its current growth trajectory [1]

Core Viewpoint - NetApp is experiencing a decline in stock performance, with a notable loss over the past month, while upcoming earnings are anticipated to show slight growth in EPS and revenue [1][2]. Financial Performance - NetApp plans to announce its earnings on November 25, 2025, with an expected EPS of $1.89, reflecting a 1.07% increase from the prior-year quarter [2]. - The revenue forecast for the upcoming quarter is $1.69 billion, indicating a 1.68% growth compared to the same quarter last year [2]. - For the entire fiscal year, earnings are projected at $7.77 per share and revenue at $6.76 billion, representing increases of 7.17% and 2.85% respectively from the previous year [3]. Analyst Estimates - Recent modifications to analyst estimates for NetApp are crucial as they reflect short-term business trends, with positive revisions indicating a favorable outlook on business health and profitability [4]. - The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has remained unchanged over the past month, and NetApp currently holds a Zacks Rank of 3 (Hold) [6]. Valuation Metrics - NetApp is trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 14.09, which is below the industry average of 18.9, suggesting it is undervalued compared to its peers [7]. - The company has a PEG ratio of 1.92, aligning with the industry average, which indicates a balance between its earnings growth expectations and current valuation [8]. Industry Context - The Computer-Storage Devices industry, part of the broader Computer and Technology sector, ranks in the top 16% of all industries according to the Zacks Industry Rank [9].

Core Viewpoint - NetApp's stock has underperformed recently, with a return of -8.2% over the past month, while the Zacks S&P 500 composite increased by +4.6% and the Computer-Storage Devices industry gained +23.1% [1] Earnings Estimate Revisions - The consensus earnings estimate for the current quarter is $1.89 per share, reflecting a year-over-year change of +1.1% [4] - The consensus earnings estimate for the current fiscal year is $7.77, indicating a year-over-year change of +7.2% [4] - For the next fiscal year, the consensus earnings estimate is $8.68, showing a change of +11.7% from the previous year [5] - NetApp holds a Zacks Rank 3 (Hold), indicating a neutral outlook based on earnings estimate revisions [6] Revenue Growth Forecast - The consensus sales estimate for the current quarter is $1.69 billion, representing a year-over-year change of +1.7% [10] - The sales estimates for the current and next fiscal years are $6.76 billion and $7.06 billion, indicating changes of +2.8% and +4.4%, respectively [10] Last Reported Results and Surprise History - In the last reported quarter, NetApp generated revenues of $1.56 billion, a year-over-year change of +1.2% [11] - The EPS for the same period was $1.55, compared to $1.56 a year ago, with a revenue surprise of +1.19% and an EPS surprise of +0.65% [11] - Over the last four quarters, NetApp surpassed consensus EPS estimates three times and topped revenue estimates three times [12] Valuation - NetApp is graded B on the Zacks Value Style Score, indicating it is trading at a discount to its peers [16]

Core Viewpoint - The global multi-vendor IT support services market is projected to reach $18.29 billion by 2030, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 2.8% in the coming years [2]. Market Overview - Multi-vendor IT support services allow companies to provide support for various products from different manufacturers, including their own [1]. - The market is primarily dominated by hardware support services, which account for approximately 63.0% of the market share [11]. - The main application driving demand is sales and marketing, representing about 25.1% of the market [13]. Key Players - Major players in the global multi-vendor IT support services market include IBM, Fujitsu, Hitachi, NetApp, NEC, Lenovo, Dell, Oracle, and Broadcom [8]. - In 2024, the top five vendors are expected to hold around 49.0% of the market share [8]. Market Drivers - Medical technology support enhances IT support efficiency while complying with regulations [19]. - The complexity of managing IT assets drives the need for one-click IT support, as companies migrate applications and data to cloud environments [20]. - Cost and time savings are significant, with IT support management costs potentially reduced by up to 25% and hardware support time savings reaching 20% [21]. Market Challenges - The integration of advanced analytics and AI is necessary to manage IT issues before they escalate [21]. - The development of the Industrial Internet presents opportunities for multi-vendor IT support services software [22]. - The advent of 5G technology is expected to enhance connectivity and support the growth of IoT technologies [23].

Core Insights - NetApp has been awarded the 2025 Americas Partner of the Year Software Development Company (SDC) Canada Award by Microsoft, recognizing its innovation and customer solutions using Microsoft technologies [1][2] - The award highlights NetApp's unique position as the only storage company natively embedded in Microsoft Azure as a first-party service, emphasizing the depth of collaboration between the two companies [2] - The recognition comes from a competitive pool of over 2,000 nominations, showcasing NetApp's outstanding solutions and services in the SDC category for the Canada region [2] Company Overview - NetApp has over three decades of experience in helping organizations navigate changes in enterprise storage and the intelligent era defined by data and AI [4] - The company's data platform serves as a unified, enterprise-grade foundation that connects, protects, and activates data across various environments, enhancing automation through AI [5][6] - The platform is designed to separate storage, services, and control, allowing enterprises to modernize faster and innovate without lock-in [6] Strategic Focus - NetApp aims to empower data-driven innovation by enabling mission-critical and AI workloads on a robust data foundation [8] - The company focuses on accelerating modernization on Azure, providing seamless services through its natively integrated enterprise file service [8] - Continuous innovation is a priority, with ongoing advancements in AI-optimized data services and Microsoft Fabric integrations to enhance productivity and insights [8] Collaboration with Microsoft - The long-standing collaboration between NetApp and Microsoft combines their strengths to deliver best-in-class solutions for mutual customers [3] - The partnership is geared towards helping customers modernize workloads at scale and architecting the foundation for the AI era [2][3] - The integration of services aims to provide organizations with the freedom to run any workload anywhere while ensuring consistent performance and governance [6]

Industry Overview - The data-storage sector is experiencing significant growth driven by cloud migration, AI/ML workloads, and edge devices, with a projected CAGR of 17.2%, reaching $774 billion by 2032 from $255.3 billion in 2025 [2][3] - The cloud storage segment is expected to dominate the market due to its scalability and cost-effectiveness, while the healthcare sector is anticipated to have the highest CAGR due to increasing unstructured data [2] Company Analysis: Western Digital Corporation (WDC) - WDC is a key player in the global data infrastructure, focusing on hardware storage solutions like HDDs and SSDs, and is committed to technological improvements to enhance product density, speed, energy efficiency, and cost-effectiveness [4][5] - The company is leveraging AI technology to drive growth, with a new 25,600-square-foot System Integration and Test Lab to accelerate product development and testing [5] - WDC expects non-GAAP revenues of $2.7 billion for the fiscal first quarter, reflecting a 22% year-over-year increase, and anticipates gross margins of 41-42% [6][8] - The company has reduced its debt by $2.6 billion, achieving a net leverage target of 1–1.5x, and is focused on enhancing shareholder value through dividends and buybacks [10][8] Company Analysis: NetApp Inc. (NTAP) - NTAP is positioned to drive growth in data infrastructure, focusing on AI and cloud solutions, with strong demand for its all-flash portfolio and modern data infrastructure [11][16] - The company reported an 80% revenue increase in its Keystone storage-as-a-service, and its Public Cloud segment is benefiting from healthy traction in hyperscaler services [18][19] - NTAP returned $404 million to shareholders in the fiscal first quarter and $1.57 billion for the fiscal year through dividends and share repurchases [19] - Despite challenges from macroeconomic uncertainty and cautious IT spending, NTAP is experiencing strong demand for its AI and data lake solutions [20][12] Performance Comparison - Over the past year, WDC's stock has increased by 116.5%, while NTAP's stock has declined by 1% [23] - In terms of valuation, NTAP trades at a forward price/sales ratio of 3.3, lower than WDC's 4.21 [24] - The Zacks Consensus Estimate for WDC's earnings for fiscal 2026 has been revised up by 2.6% to $6.67, while NTAP's estimate has increased by 0.26% to $7.77 [27][29] Investment Outlook - Both WDC and NTAP are well-positioned to capitalize on the emerging data storage industry, with WDC currently rated as a Strong Buy and NTAP as a Hold according to Zacks Rank [30]

Core Insights - NetApp, Inc. is valued at a market cap of $23.3 billion and is a leading provider of cloud-led, data-centric software and storage solutions, aiding enterprises in data management and protection across on-premises and cloud environments [1] - The company is set to announce its fiscal Q2 earnings for 2026 soon, with analysts expecting a profit of $1.51 per share, a decrease of 1.3% from the previous year's $1.53 per share [2] - For fiscal 2026, analysts project an EPS of $6.27, reflecting an 8.3% increase from $5.79 in fiscal 2025, with further growth expected to $7.10 in fiscal 2027 [3] Financial Performance - In Q1, NetApp reported an EPS of $1.19, meeting the forecast, and its revenue increased by 1.2% year-over-year to $1.6 billion, surpassing consensus estimates by 1.3% [5] - The adjusted EPS for Q1 was $1.55, slightly down from the previous year but exceeding analyst expectations by a penny, while adjusted billings rose 4.3%, marking the seventh consecutive quarter of year-over-year growth [5] Market Performance - Over the past 52 weeks, NetApp's stock has declined by 1.9%, underperforming the S&P 500 Index's return of 18.4% and the Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund's increase of 29.8% [4] - Following the better-than-expected Q1 earnings results, NetApp's share price rose by 4.5% in the subsequent trading session [5] Analyst Ratings - Wall Street analysts maintain a "Moderate Buy" rating for NetApp, with 19 analysts covering the stock: six recommend "Strong Buy" and 13 suggest "Hold" [6] - The mean price target for NetApp is $121.73, indicating a potential upside of 3.9% from current levels [6]

Core Insights - NetApp is transforming storage from a passive repository to an active data foundation, aligning with industry trends towards infrastructure that orchestrates and accelerates data use, particularly for AI workloads [1][3] - The event featured keynotes from major partners like Google, Microsoft, and AWS, highlighting the importance of collaboration in advancing storage solutions [1] - CEO George Kurin emphasized the connection between unstructured and structured data through the AI Data Engine and knowledge graphs, showcasing NetApp's vision for AI integration [1] Key Themes Emerging from the Event - The evolution of storage strategy is essential for enterprises, with principles such as disaggregation, embedded governance, and active metadata being crucial for future roadmaps [3] - The AI era necessitates a shift in infrastructure priorities, focusing on observability, accountability, security, and intelligibility as foundational elements [4] Technological Developments - NetApp introduced AFX, a modular all-flash platform that allows for independent scaling of performance and capacity, catering to AI pipeline optimization [5] - The focus on active metadata indicates a transition towards dynamic data fabrics that support semantic search and governance, vital for AI workflows [5] - The new NetApp Console modernizes management across hybrid and multicloud environments, unifying controls for various data services [5] Security and Compliance - Enhancements in ransomware detection and isolated recovery environments reflect the growing expectation for compliance and protection to be integrated within infrastructure [5] - Governance and regulatory compliance must be inherent to the data layer, emphasizing the need for native solutions [5] Strategic Recommendations - Organizations should audit their current storage platforms to ensure support for GPU adjacency and metadata-driven workflows [6] - Data services such as observability and security should be embedded within the storage layer for enhanced functionality [6] - Planning for governance and scalability should be prioritized from the outset of infrastructure design [6]

Core Viewpoint - NetApp's stock has underperformed compared to the broader market, with a recent decline and upcoming financial results that are being closely monitored by market participants [1][2]. Financial Performance - NetApp is expected to report an EPS of $1.89, reflecting a 1.07% increase year-over-year, and quarterly revenue is forecasted at $1.69 billion, up 1.68% from the previous year [2]. - For the entire fiscal year, earnings are projected at $7.77 per share and revenue at $6.76 billion, indicating increases of 7.17% and 2.85% respectively from the prior year [3]. Analyst Estimates - Recent changes in analyst estimates for NetApp are crucial as they reflect near-term business trends, with positive revisions indicating a favorable outlook on the company's health and profitability [3][4]. Zacks Rank and Performance - NetApp currently holds a Zacks Rank of 3 (Hold), with the consensus EPS estimate remaining unchanged over the last 30 days [5]. - The Zacks Rank system has a strong track record, with stocks rated 1 producing an average annual return of +25% since 1988 [5]. Valuation Metrics - NetApp has a Forward P/E ratio of 15.33, which is below the industry average of 19.07, indicating a valuation discount [6]. - The company also has a PEG ratio of 2.09, which aligns with the industry average for the Computer-Storage Devices sector [6]. Industry Context - The Computer-Storage Devices industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector and holds a Zacks Industry Rank of 90, placing it in the top 37% of over 250 industries [7]. - Strong industry rankings suggest that the top-rated industries outperform the lower-rated ones by a factor of 2 to 1 [7].