SanDisk ( SNDK ) is turning out to be one of the major beneficiaries of the AI infrastructure growth, where data center storage is redefining the earnings growth path for the company. With hyperscalers rushing toHi, I'm Yiannis. Spotting winners before they break out is what I do best.Experience: Previously worked at Deloitte and KPMG in external/internal auditing and consulting. Education: Chartered Certified Accountant, Fellow Member of ACCA Global, with BSc and MSc degrees from U.K. business schools. Inv ...

Summary of Western Digital 2026 Investor Day Company Overview - **Company**: Western Digital (NasdaqGS: WDC) - **Event**: 2026 Investor Day - **Date**: February 03, 2026 Key Industry Insights - **Storage Demand**: The demand for storage is projected to grow at a CAGR of over 25% over the next five years, driven by AI, cloud computing, and data generation from various applications, including autonomous vehicles and robotics [14][16] - **HDD Market Position**: HDDs are expected to represent 80% of the storage media deployed in hyperscale environments due to their superior economics and performance [14][15] Core Company Strategies and Achievements - **Execution on Strategy**: Over the past year, Western Digital has focused on executing its strategy across six pillars, leading to strong customer trust and long-term agreements extending through 2027 and 2028 [6][7] - **Product Innovation**: The company has shipped 3.5 million units of its industry-leading 32 TB drives and is projected to ship nearly 4 million units in the next quarter [8] - **Cultural Change**: A significant cultural transformation has occurred within the company, enhancing customer engagement and operational efficiency [9] Financial Performance - **Revenue Growth**: The company has reported strong revenue growth and margin appreciation, resulting in robust free cash flow, with 100% of free cash flow returned to shareholders in the last two quarters [10] - **Leverage Reduction**: Net leverage has been reduced to below the targeted range of 1 to 1.5x [10] Technological Innovations - **HAMR Technology**: The company is advancing its Heat-Assisted Magnetic Recording (HAMR) technology, with plans to reach 100 TB drives by 2029. The current focus is on ensuring reliability and performance consistency [44][46] - **High Bandwidth Drive**: Introduction of High Bandwidth Drive technology aims to double random and sequential read-write throughput, enhancing performance while maintaining total cost of ownership (TCO) [61][62] - **Dual Pivot Technology**: This new design allows for increased density and performance, enabling double the sequential I/O without requiring software changes [65][66] Customer Engagement and Market Needs - **Customer-Centric Approach**: The company emphasizes understanding customer needs to build future-ready technology, ensuring smooth transitions between different recording technologies [38][41] - **Partnerships**: Collaborations with major customers like Meta highlight the importance of reliability, capacity, and cost efficiency in HDD technology [20][18] Future Outlook - **AI and Data Storage**: As AI adoption increases, the need for efficient data storage solutions will grow. Western Digital is positioned to meet this demand through innovative HDD technologies and a focus on power efficiency [41][70] - **Market Dynamics**: Despite competition from flash storage, HDDs remain the most cost-effective solution for large-scale data storage, with ongoing innovations to enhance performance and capacity [58][59] Conclusion Western Digital is strategically positioned to capitalize on the growing demand for data storage driven by AI and cloud technologies. The company's focus on innovation, customer engagement, and operational efficiency is expected to drive future growth and shareholder value.

Market Overview - U.S. stock markets began 2026 positively, with major indexes like the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq Composite rising by 1.7%, 1.4%, and 1% respectively in January, while the Russell 2000 increased by over 5% [2] Investment Opportunities - Five stocks with favorable Zacks Rank and momentum for February include Amphenol Corp. (APH), Seagate Technology Holdings plc (STX), Ulta Beauty Inc. (ULTA), Coeur Mining Inc. (CDE), and KLA Corp. (KLAC), all rated as Zacks Rank 1 (Strong Buy) with a Momentum Score of A [3] Amphenol Corp. (APH) - Amphenol benefits from a diversified business model and holds a 33% market share in AI-powered data center interconnects, with strong demand for high-speed and power interconnect products [5][6] - Increased spending on defense technologies and strong demand across Commercial Air, Industrial, and IT Datacom sectors support top-line growth [6] - Expected revenue and earnings growth rates for the current year are 24.1% and 30.2% respectively, with a 1.2% improvement in earnings estimates over the last week [9] Seagate Technology Holdings plc (STX) - Seagate is experiencing strong demand driven by cloud and AI, with a focus on balancing performance and cost efficiency [10] - High-capacity nearline production is booked through 2026, ensuring strong demand visibility [11] - Expected revenue and earnings growth rates for the current year are 24.6% and 52.6% respectively, with a 6.5% improvement in earnings estimates over the last week [14] Ulta Beauty Inc. (ULTA) - Ulta's retail model combines mass, prestige, and luxury beauty, driving consistent customer engagement [15] - Strong loyalty programs and digital capabilities enhance customer relationships and repeat purchases [16] - Expected revenue and earnings growth rates for the current year are 6.1% and 11.4% respectively, with a slight improvement in earnings estimates [18] Coeur Mining Inc. (CDE) - Coeur Mining is a primary silver and gold producer with operations in the Americas, including key properties in Mexico, Bolivia, Nevada, and Alaska [19] - Expected revenue and earnings growth rates for the current year are 30.2% and over 100% respectively, with a 10.6% improvement in earnings estimates over the last month [20] KLA Corp. (KLAC) - KLA is benefiting from strong demand in the semiconductor industry, particularly in AI infrastructure and advanced packaging [21] - The company’s leadership in process control systems supports revenue growth amid increasing design complexity [22] - Expected revenue and earnings growth rates for the current year are 7.92% and 8.8% respectively, with a 1.2% improvement in earnings estimates over the last week [23]

Summary of Western Digital 2026 Investor Day Company Overview - **Company**: Western Digital (NasdaqGS: WDC) - **Event**: 2026 Investor Day - **Date**: February 03, 2026 Key Industry Insights - **Storage Demand Growth**: The demand for storage exabytes is projected to grow at a CAGR of over 25% over the next five years, driven by AI and cloud technologies [14] - **HDD Market Position**: HDDs are expected to represent 80% of the storage media in hyperscale environments due to their superior economics and performance [15] - **AI Impact**: The transition to large language models and the rise of multimodal AI applications are significantly increasing storage requirements, particularly for video and inference data [13] Core Company Strategies and Achievements - **Customer Engagement**: Western Digital has reorganized teams to enhance customer trust and engagement, resulting in long-term agreements extending through 2028 [6] - **Product Innovation**: The company has shipped 3.5 million units of its industry-leading 32 TB drives and is projected to ship nearly 4 million units in the next quarter [7] - **Cultural Transformation**: A cultural shift within the company has been emphasized, focusing on combining 55 years of hard drive experience with new engineering talent [10] Financial Performance - **Revenue Growth**: Strong financial results have been reported, with significant revenue growth and margin appreciation over the past year [10] - **Free Cash Flow**: 100% of free cash flow generated in the last two quarters has been returned to shareholders [11] - **Recognition**: Western Digital was added to the Nasdaq 100 in December 2025, highlighting its financial performance [11] Product Development and Technology - **HAMR Technology**: The company is advancing its Heat-Assisted Magnetic Recording (HAMR) technology, with expectations to reach 100 TB drives by 2029 [43][51] - **Dual Pivot Technology**: Introduction of Dual Pivot technology aims to double the performance and transactions per second without requiring software changes [59][62] - **Power Efficiency**: New designs are being developed to reduce power consumption by 20% while maintaining performance, allowing for increased capacity [63] Customer Needs and Expectations - **Capacity and Reliability**: Customers require high-capacity drives that are reliable and cost-efficient, with a focus on minimal disruption during technology transitions [20][21] - **Performance for AI Workloads**: There is a growing need for drives that can handle the performance demands of AI workloads, including higher bandwidth and throughput [23][55] - **Simplified Adoption**: Western Digital aims to make it easier for smaller players in the AI space to adopt their technology without significant investment in storage infrastructure [24] Future Outlook - **Continued Innovation**: The company is committed to accelerating innovation while maintaining a strong execution focus, with plans for future updates on technology advancements [26] - **Market Positioning**: Western Digital is positioned to meet the evolving needs of customers as AI continues to reshape the data landscape, ensuring that HDDs remain the backbone of data storage [54] Additional Insights - **Sustainability Goals**: The company is focused on being a good corporate citizen and delivering on sustainability goals [11] - **Cultural Recognition**: Western Digital has been recognized as one of the best places to work in America, reflecting its cultural transformation [11]

Welcome Innovation Day February 3, 2026 © 20 26 W ESTE RN DIGITAL C ORPOR ATION OR ITS A F FIL IA TES. AL L R IGH TS RES ERV ED . Innovation Day Ambrish Srivastava © 20 26 W ESTE RN DIGITAL C ORPOR ATION OR ITS A F FIL IA TES. AL L R IGH TS RES ERV ED . Disclaimers FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS This presentation contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of federal securities laws, including statements regarding expectations for: the company's business outlook and financial performance for the fisc ...

Milpitas, California-based Sandisk Corporation (SNDK) develops, manufactures, and sells data storage devices and solutions using NAND flash technology. Valued at $84.5 billion by market cap, the company offers memory cards and readers, USB flash, micro SD cards, and digital audio players. Shares of this flash memory titan have significantly outperformed the broader market on a YTD basis. SNDK has gained 180.2% over this time frame, while the broader S&P 500 Index ($SPX) has rallied nearly 15.5%. Over the ...

Core Insights - Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) has been highlighted as a stock of interest by Jim Cramer, particularly due to an upcoming analyst meeting and recent strong earnings, despite the stock price decline [1] - The company, known for its data storage solutions, is facing challenges as it has not anticipated the demand from its clients, particularly in the data center sector [1][3] Company Overview - Western Digital designs and supplies a range of data storage solutions, including internal and external hard drives, portable drives, data center platforms, NAS systems, and related accessories [3] Market Position - Despite being a strong performer historically, Western Digital is currently perceived as part of the problem for its customers rather than a solution, indicating potential issues in meeting market demands [1]

This stock may have plenty of room to run.Over the past few years, certain companies have emerged as clear artificial intelligence (AI) winners of today and tomorrow. These have been players like Nvidia, which designs the key element needed to power AI -- the AI chip -- as well as companies that offer cloud services, or the infrastructure needed to run AI workloads. These are giants such as Amazon as well as smaller AI-focused companies like CoreWeave.In any case, these AI players have garnered a great deal ...

We recently published 10 Big Names Already Crushing This February. Western Digital Corp. (NASDAQ:WDC) was one of the top performers on Monday. Western Digital snapped a two-day losing streak on Monday, jumping 8 percent to close at $270.23 apiece as investors repositioned portfolios ahead of expected business updates tomorrow, February 3. The company is set to hold an event called Innovation Day on the said date, where it is expected to highlight key innovations designed to support the growing demand fo ...

Group 1 - Qualstar Corporation has completed its reincorporation from California to Nevada and executed a 3-for-1 forward stock split of its common stock [1][2] - The company has submitted the necessary corporate action documentation to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) for review and clearance [2][3] - The timing of the stock split's reflection on the OTC Markets will depend on FINRA's review process, which includes assigning an official ex-date [3] Group 2 - Founded in 1984, Qualstar Corporation is a provider of digital storage solutions, having sold over 35,000 units globally [4] - The company specializes in scalable, energy-efficient tape libraries designed for long-term data preservation, distinguishing itself as the last independent tape library manufacturer [4] - Qualstar's reputation is built on reliability and flexibility, offering customers freedom from proprietary software lock-in and faster turnaround times compared to larger competitors [4]