UPDATE: Drexel Hamilton Initiates Coverage on SanDisk as Unit Growth Should Outpace Crimped Margins

In a report published Thursday, Drexel Hamilton analyst Richard Whittington initiated coverage on

with a Buy rating and $80.00 price target. In the report, Drexel Hamilton noted, “We initiate SanDisk with a Buy rating and $80 price target that is roughly 15x our $5.41 2014 GAAP EPS estimate, which would stand an indicated 21% above 2013's estimate; our 2013-2014 non-GAAP EPS are $5.45 and $5.83. SanDisk is the third largest NAND merchant supplier at 15%. They trail Samsung's 32% share, as well as Toshiba's 25% share, which also operates JV production facilities where output is split with them. SanDisk is followed by Micron at 13%, Hynix at 12% and Intel at 3%. Spun out of memory industry fountainhead Intel decades ago, SanDisk was founded by design teams instrumental in creating what has evolved into a thriving NAND Flash industry that has literally created its own demand space. Now displacing magnetic storage media (HDD) in mobile PC's and supplementing these in servers and communications infrastructure, NAND Flash has proven to be an enabling technology for the burgeoning mobile world.” SanDisk Corporation closed on Wednesday at $69.09.