Sandisk Corporation(SNDK) - 2025 Q3 - Earnings Call Transcript

Financial Data and Key Metrics Changes - Revenue for the third quarter was $1.7 billion, down 10% sequentially and down 1% year over year [7][15] - Non-GAAP EPS was a loss of$ 0.30 per share, at the high end of the guidance range [18] - Cash and cash equivalents increased from $1.3 billion to$ 1.5 billion [18] Business Line Data and Key Metrics Changes - Client revenue was $927 million, down 10% sequentially [16] - Consumer revenue was$ 571 million, down 5% quarter over quarter [16] - Cloud revenue was $197 million, down 21% sequentially [16] - ASPs were down high single digits, reflecting continued oversupply in the market [8] Market Data and Key Metrics Changes - Analysts estimate cloud CapEx from major hyperscale providers grew over 50% to approximately$ 240 billion in calendar year 2024, expected to reach approximately $330 billion in 2025, a 40% increase [13] - Bit allocation to enterprise SSD applications increased to 12% this quarter, up from 8% in the same quarter of the prior year [13] Company Strategy and Development Direction - The company aims to create value for customers and shareholders while reaffirming leadership in the NAND market [5] - Focus on capital discipline and driving higher returns on invested capital [6] - Plans to reduce wafer production to align supply with demand and enable sustainable pricing [8] Management's Comments on Operating Environment and Future Outlook - Management sees an undersupplied market through the end of next year, with expectations for pricing to start increasing [26][27] - Positive signs include strengthening transactional markets and encouraging customer engagements [20] - The company expects revenue for the fourth quarter to be between$ 1.750 billion and $1.850 billion, assuming bit shipments to be flat and ASP to be up mid to high single digits [19] Other Important Information - The company recorded a noncash impairment charge of$ 1.83 billion, reducing the goodwill balance to $5 billion [18] - The company is beginning to move away from providing explicit guidance on cost per bit due to industry cost reductions from technology migrations [22] Q&A Session Summary Question: Can you discuss supply and demand dynamics? - Management sees an undersupplied market through the end of next year, with expectations for pricing to start increasing [26][27] Question: How is the enterprise SSD market performing? - Demand has been consistent, with expectations for a tripling of enterprise SSD revenue from FY 2024 to FY 2025 [34] Question: What are the expectations for gross margins? - Headwinds include underutilization charges and fab startup costs, but higher ASPs are expected to help gross margins overall [38] Question: How is the company managing capacity and bit growth? - The company is carefully managing capacity to avoid oversupply while ramping up higher layer count and more density per wafer [41] Question: What is the outlook for NAND bit shipments? - The company expects NAND bit volume to grow low double digits this calendar year, with good visibility across various markets [56][58] Question: How does the yen exchange rate impact costs? - The front end is exposed to the yen, but not all costs are yen-denominated, which should be considered in modeling [81]