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Technology Stocks : WDC/Sandisk Corporation -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: jokesonme who wrote (39095)	3/24/2008 12:00:53 PM
From: Art Bechhoefer	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 60323

It is frustrating to keep hearing that WS doens't get it jokesonme--To be more accurate, typical WS analysts, whether or not they understand the technology, seem under pressure NOT to think outside the box. It's more like peer pressure, which, if you run counter to it, could endanger your job if you're on the wrong side. So an analyst can be fairly safe, at least from the point of view of his/her job, to go along with the conventional thinking that, because of overcapacity, all NAND flash producers are hurting. That's not quite what is happening. They're all hurting, no doubt, but SNDK has an advantage because of its low production costs and patent royalties. An impartial analysis would take into account the fact that not all producers have similar costs. Also, I doubt whether future profitability depends solely, or even in large part, on a successful, competitively priced and performing SSD with MLC. SNDK is, after all, the largest producer of microSD, the card of choice for cell phones. I would say that continued growth in demand for cell phones, particularly at the high end, where cameras, MP3 players and other features demand extra storage capacity. I would put much greater stake in the health of the cell phone industry than in the still relatively small market for computers with SSD. Art