For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL – June 3, 2026 – Today, Zacks Equity Research discusses Western Digital WDC, Sandisk Corp. SNDK, and Netlist, Inc NLST.
Industry: Data Storage
Link: https://www.zacks.com/commentary/2930481/3-storage-devices-stocks-to-buy-as-the-industry-gains-momentum
Accelerating digital transformation, edge computing, the proliferation of AI workloads and enterprise cloud adoption are driving demand for reliable, scalable and cost-efficient data storage solutions, supporting long-term growth for the Zacks Computer-Storage Devices industry. As hyperscalers double down on AI clusters, companies like Western Digital are benefiting from orders for high-capacity hard disk drives (HDDs) and enterprise solid-state drives (SSDs) and emerging storage architectures. HDDs remain the most reliable and economical solution for mass data storage, forming the backbone of global data infrastructure.
As cyberattacks continue to increase in frequency, the demand for end-to-end encryption will also drive growth in secure storage solutions. These factors propel the demand for sophisticated data storage solutions, bolstering computer storage product requirements. These factors are favorable for prominent industry players like Sandisk Corp., Western Digital and Netlist, Inc. Escalating trade and geopolitical tensions and their impact on supply chains, along with global macroeconomic turbulence and associated inflation, remain headwinds.
Industry Description
The Zacks Computer-Storage Devices industry houses companies that design, develop, manufacture and market various HDDs and SSDs. These drives are utilized in PCs, laptops, mobiles, servers, network-attached storage devices, video game consoles, digital video recorders and other consumer electronic devices. Some industry participants, including Pure Storage, provide software-defined all-flash solutions that are uniquely fast and cloud-capable for customers.
Many industry players offer high-performance modular memory subsystems, mount and blade server systems, enterprise storage and data management software, and hardware products and services. Some industry participants also provide purpose-built servers for storing and accessing data over a shared network or the Internet.
3 Trends Shaping the Computer-Storage Industry's Future
AI’s Impact on the Storage Devices Industry: Rapid proliferation of AI is overhauling the entire tech landscape. AI workloads like training large language models and running inference are driving demand for high-speed, high-capacity and low-latency storage solutions. Traditional storage architectures are insufficient for the data throughput required by AI applications, prompting a transition toward NVMe-based SSDs (PCIe Gen 4/5/6), software-defined storage and storage-class memory.
Object storage is best suited for storing unstructured data, a common prerequisite for AI workloads. Other fast-emerging solutions include Parallel File Systems Optimized for AI and QLC NAND SSDs for AI Data Lakes.
According to a report from Gartner, worldwide IT spending is projected to reach $6.31 trillion in 2026, calling for an increase of 13.5% from 2025 levels, driven by AI infrastructure, software and IaaS. Spending on data center systems is expected to exceed $788 billion in 2026, added the research firm.
Innovation in Cloud Storage Technologies to Drive Adoption: Broader storage options from collocated hardware (such as hard disks and tape drives) to many cloud storage solutions have put the industry on a growth trajectory. Industry players are well-poised for growth owing to a rapid increase in data, the complexity of data formats and the need to scale resources at regular intervals. These companies rely on AI for IT Operations and machine learning to manage and optimize storage solutions.
To streamline data storage, companies are focusing on virtualization technologies. As more data is added from IoT, companies are turning to edge computing architecture to reduce latency and boost flexibility. Moreover, increasing uptake of containerized applications is accelerating demand for Kubernetes-native storage solutions that enable greater scalability, portability and automation across cloud environments.
These trends support wider deployments of scalable enterprise and hyperscale storage systems. Moreover, the industry’s focus is shifting from one-time hardware sales to recurring, usage-based revenue streams as cloud-native storage models (object storage and Storage-as-a-Service) gain traction.
Macro Conditions Remain Concerns: Escalating trade tensions and tariffs are emerging as a key concern. These are weighing heavily on global macroeconomic conditions and can disrupt supply-chain dynamics. Uncertainty in the macro backdrop and inflationary pressure could affect spending across small and medium-sized businesses globally. The uncertainty in business visibility could dent the industry’s performance in the near term.
Zacks Industry Rank Indicates Bright Prospects
The Zacks Computer Storage is housed within the broader Zacks Computer and Technology Sector. The industry carries a Zacks Industry Rank #21, which places it in the top 9% of more than 245 Zacks industries.
The group’sZacks Industry Rank, which is the average of the Zacks Rank of all the member stocks, indicates bright near-term prospects. Our research shows that the top 50% of the Zacks-ranked industries outperform the bottom 50% by a factor of more than two to one.
Before we present a few stocks that you may want to consider for your portfolio, due to bright prospects, let us look at the industry’s recent stock-market performance and valuation picture.
Industry Outperforms the S&P 500 and the Sector
The Zacks Computer-Storage Devices industry has outpaced the S&P 500 composite and the broader sector in the past year.
The industry has risen 575.8% in this period compared with the S&P 500’s growth of 31.2% in the past year. The broader sector has gained 53.1% in the same time frame.
Industry's Current Valuation
On the basis of forward 12-month Price/Earnings (P/E), which is a commonly used multiple for valuing computer storage device companies, we see that the industry is currently trading at 14.13X compared with the S&P 500’s 22.26X. This is also below the sector’s forward 12-month P/E of 26.34X.
In the past five years, the industry has traded as high as 20.65X and as low as 11.76X, with the median being 15.04X.
3 Computer Storage Devices to Add to Portfolio
Western Digital: Headquartered in San Jose, CA, WDC is a leading developer and manufacturer of data storage devices and solutions.
As AI and cloud adoption accelerate, demand for higher-density storage continues to rise. Western Digital is meeting this demand through close collaboration with hyperscale customers, delivering high-capacity drives at scale with reliable performance and total cost of ownership. The company is advancing areal density gains, accelerating its HAMR and ePMR roadmaps, and driving adoption of higher-capacity and UltraSMR drives.
In the fiscal third quarter, WDC shipped 222 exabytes, a 34% year-over-year increase. This included 4.1 million next-gen ePMR drives, totaling 118 exabytes, with capacities of up to 32TB, highlighting the rapid scaling of new technology to meet strong demand. The reliability, scalability and TCO benefits of the ePMR and UltraSMR technologies remain key to its success in the data center market.
It recently integrated post-quantum cryptographic capabilities into its next-generation Ultrastar UltraSMR hard drives. Specifically, these drives are already undergoing qualification with multiple hyperscale customers, signaling that large-scale cloud and AI infrastructure providers are taking quantum-era security threats seriously.
Strong revenues and free cash flow generation are aiding in sustaining shareholder returns. Since launching the capital return program in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025, the company has returned a total of $2.2 billion to its shareholders through buybacks and dividends. It expects fourth-quarter fiscal 2026 revenues of $3.65 billion (+/- $100 million), implying about 40% year-over-year growth at the midpoint.
At present, WDC sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can seethe complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for WDC’s fiscal 2026 bottom line stands at $10.02, unchanged in the past seven days. The stock has skyrocketed 915.8% in the past year.
Sandisk: SNDK was formed after Western Digital completed the separation of its HDD and Flash businesses into two independent, publicly traded companies, each with a specific focus on the respective market. Sandisk manages the Flash business.
Demand for Sandisk’s NAND products continues to exceed supply. Demand for NAND storage products is increasing rapidly as investments in data centers and AI infrastructure ramp up.
AI workloads are significantly increasing the amount of NAND required in data centers, particularly as inference deployments like KV cache as well as RAG workloads scale. Sandisk added that as AI models grow in size and complexity, NAND is emerging as a critical and “economically viable solution.”
A key differentiator in Sandisk’s strategy is the introduction of the new business models (NBMs), which are reshaping its revenue visibility. On the last earnings call, management noted that the company has already signed five multiyear (three in the fiscal third quarter) supply agreements with customers, with the longest contract extending up to five years.
The three agreements signed in the fiscal third quarter represent minimum contractual revenues of approximately $42 billion. The five contracts are backed by more than $11 billion in financial guarantees. Importantly, these NBMs are expected to cover more than one-third of Sandisk’s bit shipments in fiscal 2027, providing demand certainty and pricing stability.
For the third quarter of fiscal 2026, Sandisk reported revenues of $5.95 billion, rising 97% sequentially and 251% year over year. Adjusted free cash flow reached nearly $2.96 million. For the fiscal fourth quarter, it expects revenues to be between $7.75 billion and $8.25 billion.
At present, SNDK flaunts a Zacks Rank #1. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for its fiscal 2026 bottom line is pegged at $64.82, unchanged in the past seven days. The stock has surged 4458.4% over the past year.
Netlist: Irvine, CA-based Netlist is a leading designer and manufacturer of high-performance SSDs and modular memory subsystems for enterprise customers in various industries.
The company is gaining from the higher demand for advanced memory solutions amid the proliferation of AI workloads. The company is benefiting from a structural supply-demand imbalance, in which AI-driven demand for memory continues to accelerate while DRAM supply remains tight. Management noted that the industry shortage is expected to continue until new fab capacity comes online, potentially delaying relief until 2029.
NLST is ramping up its Lightning DDR5 RDIMM and UDIMM products while developing CXL NVDIMM and low-power MRDIMM solutions. Notably, Netlist’s custom DDR4 solutions still account for a significant portion of current revenues, while newer products are expected to drive mix improvements as adoption scales.
NLST is also pursuing patent litigation and expanded enforcement actions against major players such as Samsung, covering DDR5 and high-bandwidth memory technologies. The company is looking for exclusion and cease-and-desist orders through the ITC against Samsung, Super Micro and Google.
For the first quarter, Netlist delivered a strong performance, with revenues reaching $104.9 million, up 262% year over year.
At present, NLST sports a Zacks Rank #1. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for its 2026 bottom line is pinned at 3 cents, unchanged in the past seven days. The stock has surged 344.7% in the past year.
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Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.
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