Jim, Paul Senior, and others. I appreciate Paul's caution on whether SNDK is currently fully valued, and also the caution about comparing it with other stocks in the group, given the rise that many stocks have taken recently. In general, when the market averages hit new highs almost daily, I tend to stay on the sidelines. The kind of pre-holiday fireworks we've seen would give any prudent investor some second thoughts about buying at these levels. Thus, while I still consider SNDK undervalued at 45, I'm in no big hurry to buy it or to advise my clients to buy it. Given the record levels for NASDAQ stocks, I think we could see a pullback. I strongly doubt that we'll see SNDK in the 30's, short of a major market crash, which I don't expect. A favorable ruling on the Lexar litigation in the near future would, I'm afraid, make us all long for those days when we could have bought SNDK at a bargain price of 45!
I also see more recognition of SNDK in the press. An article furnished by the Associated Press to various papers, including today's local Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, mentions SNDK in the context of Sony's memory stick, Lexar flash memory, IBM's Microdrive, and IOMEGA's Clik. That shows at least some recognition that traditional floppies and hard drives are not the only means for storing digital files. I also would not be surprised to see companies involved in related businesses taking a position in SanDisk, much the way Seagate did years ago. Combine this new recognition and investment interest with the likelihood of a favorable ruling in the Lexar suits and you have a lot of reasons for buying SNDK on weakness, but still close to its current price. |
