Netlist, Inc. NLST reported a strong second quarter of 2026, with revenue reaching $109.8 million, up 163% from the year-ago period. For the first six months of 2026, revenue totaled $214.7 million, representing a threefold increase from the same period in 2025. Gross profit for the second quarter rose 1,544% year over year to $22.9 million, while first-half gross profit increased 1,582% to $45.3 million. Operating income came in at $1.3 million, improving by $8 million from the second quarter of 2025.
On the last earnings call, management highlighted that much of the revenue was generated from the resale of difficult-to-source DRAM products, supported by robust demand and constrained memory supply. At the same time, Netlist recorded growth in its own product portfolio. Its Lightning line of overclocked, low-latency DDR5 RDIMM and UDIMM solutions continued to gain market traction. The company stated that its branded products, including Lightning and other offerings, were generating revenue in the double-digit millions.
Netlist is also continuing development work on products including MRDIMM, low-power MRDIMM and CXL NVvault. The next-generation CXL NVvault is being sampled with SoC vendors, hyperscalers and major OEMs for future hardware platforms. The company also continues to work with potential customers, major OEMs and hyperscalers on these technologies.
For the third quarter of 2026, Netlist does not provide formal guidance. However, based on bookings and shipments to date and the visibility available at the time of the earnings call, management stated that it expects third-quarter product revenue to be similar to the second quarter. Netlist ended the second quarter with $40.7 million in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash, along with minimal debt. It also had a $10 million working-capital credit line and about $74 million available under its equity line of credit.
On sourcing, management stated Netlist benefits from its 25 years in the industry and a strong global network. The company continues to receive supply support from hynix for both DDR4 and DDR5, which management said leaves Netlist relatively better positioned to procure constrained DRAM products.
Taking a Look at NLST’s Competitors
SanDisk SNDK is benefiting from AI inference demand that is lifting enterprise SSD needs and increasing datacenter exposure. BiCS8, BiCS9 and BiCS10 support higher density, performance and power efficiency, while long-term customer agreements improve demand visibility and margin durability. Management also targets substantial free cash flow and continued excess-cash returns to shareholders. For the first quarter of fiscal 2027, SanDisk expects revenues of $10.3-$10.8 billion. Sequential growth is projected to come from both bit growth and modest price increases. SanDisk expects fiscal 2027 sellable bit growth in the mid-teens as it carries higher inventory to support customer commitments.
Micron Technology MU is benefiting from AI-driven demand for memory and storage, tighter DRAM and NAND supply and a richer mix of HBM, data center SSDs and high-capacity products. Record third-quarter fiscal 2026 results, a stronger fourth-quarter outlook and durable strategic customer agreements support higher revenue visibility, cash flow and margins. Its cash generation and net cash balance provide flexibility to fund capacity additions while enhancing shareholder value. The company is also widening its data center, automotive, robotics and edge AI opportunities as memory becomes more strategic to system performance. For the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026, Micron expects revenues of $50 billion, plus or minus $1 billion. Micron now expects supply-demand conditions for both DRAM and NAND to remain tight beyond calendar 2027.
NLST Price Performance, Valuation and Estimates
Shares of the company have surged 189.4% in the past six months compared with the Zacks Computer- Storage Devices industry's rise of 68.3%.
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NLST seems attractive, as suggested by the VGM Score of B. NLST is trading at a forward 12-month price-to-sales ratio of 2.29X compared with the industry’s 2.99X.
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The Zacks Consensus Estimate for NLST’s earnings for 2026 has been revised upward over the past 60 days.
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NLST currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
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