Sterne Agee Reiterates Buy Rating On Sandisk And Micron Technology

Sterne Agee issued a semiconductor industry report Sunday and noted SanDisk Corporation SNDK and Micron Technology, Inc. MU as Buys.

Analyst Vijay Rakesh and Troy Cowdrey noted they “are buyers on SNDK and MU here, as we believe NAND will be tight in 2015 as our checks indicate 3D-NAND is potentially a 2016 phenomenon given multiple challenges.”

“With current 32-layer 3D-chip costs ~2x the planar-NAND costs, 2016 will see OEMs move to 64-96 layer NAND. Key 3D-NAND challenges: 1) current high 3D-chip sizes and declining 2D costs with 15nm/3-bit, 2) need to move from 32-layer (a non-starter) to 64-96 layers of NAND, 3) increasing Etch complexity. With improving 128GB smartphone/Enterprise demand, Yen, and disciplined NAND supply we are Buyers on SNDK-MU into 2015,” according to the report.

The firm maintained a $42 price target on Micron Technology, Inc. which recently traded at $31.91, down 2.19 percent.

The firm maintained a $125 price target SanDisk Corporation which recently traded at $96.07, down 0.12 percent.