SanDisk (Nasdaq:SNDK) Gets Another Boost, This Time from Sterne Agee

SanDisk (Nasdaq:SNDK) has been getting a lot of positive attention from analysts lately, with the more recent being Sterne Agee, which boosted its rating on the stock today.

Sterne Agee analyst Vijay Rakesh noted the overall flash industry seems to be strengthening and within that, SanDisk is improving on its NAND flash memory chips, which they are moving toward 24 nanometer dimensions.

"We believe NAND fab capacity and supply will be key metrics to watch, especially as Micron ramps its Singapore fab in March 2010. But we believe both the Samsung Line16 and Toshiba Fab5 are coming on only in 2H11 and will be key supply channels to monitor. While SNDK has become more prudent in watching its supply, key will be how Samsung behaves with its fab coming on line. We believe Hynix still remains under pressure in bringing on NAND supply given a big debt load," said Rakesh.

The good news is demand will probably remain solid for NAND flash, based on the increasing exposure they're getting from the tablet and smartphone sector. Prices also appear to be holding stronger than expected, looking to remain level, rather than drop 5 percent, which Rakesh had believed they would earlier.

Even with the positive comments, Rakesh still likes Micron (NASDAQ:MU) and Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE:AMD) over SanDisk at this time.

He boosted his estimates for SanDisk to $1.4 billion in revenue and $1.22 in EPS for Q2, from $1.3 billion and $1.03, and increased his full year estimate from $5.6 billion and $4.03 a share to $5.9 billion and $4.66 a share.

SanDisk was trading at $49.90, gaining $2.10, or 4.39 percent, as of 12:16 PM EST. Sterne has a price target of $65 on SanDisk.