Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Strategies & Market Trends : Gorilla and King Portfolio Candidates -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: tekboy who wrote (23280)	4/22/2000 7:20:00 PM
From: straight life	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 54805

Tek-"can you make the case for SNDK in GG terms, please? sorry, t-boy; you didn't say please pretty please (and you still didn't answer her question, large though it was...) Seriously, I have no problem with buying companies involved in hyper-growth markets (tornadoes). Eventually their true character will become known (gorilla, king, prince). I've doubted they'll be a gorilla but this recent Lexar media win in court may change perceptions as their patents prove to be stronger than supposed; it seems if you want to sell flash memory you must be a licensee of SNDK. Their UMC shares will prove not only wealth enhancing but will also provide that they get their orders filled at the foundry, absent further earthquakes in Taiwan (geologic and political). What excites me as a shareholder (rather than as a business student) is that flash memory products are at the nexus of multiple tornadoes- digital cameras, MP3 audio, cell phones and multiple others. Eventually we'll learn the extent of their IPR lock on the industry. For now I'm happy to be in a tornado. I also ask, if you're serious, to follow the SNDK thread on SI in general (esp. the SNDK-obsessed Ausdauer, who seems to have an on again, off again relationship with this thread) and Art Bechhoefer, in particular, who is a very wise and experienced investor. Let me leave you with a very recent CNBC interview of the CEO, Eli Harari: Tyler: Sandisk beats the street. Net income more than tripled to $15 million, or 21 cents a share. Three cents ahead of estimates. Revenues soared about 150% to $109 million. The company is a leading maker of flash memory storage devices, integrated circuits that retain data when power is off. Some memory chips lose stored data as soon as power is interrupted. In the past 52 weeks, the stock has gone from $9 to $169, and is now at about $105 a share Let's get some more details on Sandisk's latest profit report. Joining us now from Mountain View, California is Eli Harari President and CEO of Sandisk. Welcome, nice to have you with us. Good morning, Tyler. Tyler: Business is extraordinary good with a tripling in net income. Can you keep it up? We intend to. Our entire focus is on increasing production and meeting the very strong and surging demand for our products. We are very confident about the near term as well as long-term prospects for the company. Tyler: To whom do you sell most of your product? CEO Harari: Well, Sandisk really has pioneered what we call disruptive technology, displaced existing mechanical rotating or chemical devices; for example, everybody knows today about digital cameras, flash, which the company pioneered is now the standard digital film for digital cameras. The majority of Cannon, HP's cameras, use the flash supplied by Sandisk. So, this one example. We now have the music players, MP3 players and again, disruptive technology that replaces tape and again, in the multimedia card that Sandisk is selling today, the majority of music player companies. Susan Byrne Westwood: This is Susan Byrne Westwood. Just wondering, we can all know from the products that you are going into we would all recognize those products as new products and we are all using them and very exciting. Do you see competition coming down the pike from some of, from some other folks, some of the larger players or do you feel your position and product is well-protected through patent or the manufacturing process? CEO Harari: Sandisk has very pioneering technology, over 100 patents confirmed in court. We have licensed technology to leading manufacturers such as Intel. We believe the markets are going to be very, very large markets and we believe that it is very important to have open standards and open competition. We feel we have the best team in the industry for flash development, for control technology. We have very, very good manufacturing partners in Taiwan. We have recently announced a very important strategic long-term cooperation agreement with Toshiba. Toshiba and Sandisk together will have a very strong showing to the market as the market takes off. Susan Byrne Westwood: Quickly on another subject, Seagate owns as large part of your condition and they are involved in a corporate develop. What happens to their ownership and does that go into the private deal? Tyler: Quick answer please. Seagate Technology has already sold most of the shares in the company and now formally out of 70 million shares. So, the represent ownership in the company is small. Tyler: Congratulations again in the blockbuster quarter in your company, Sandisk. President and CEO of Sandisk.