STEC Upgrade Extends Stock’s Longest Run Since December (STEC, EMC, IBM, HTCH, NLST, DRAM, STX, NTAP, WDC)

Tickerspy’s Data Storage Index

DATA STORAGE INVESTING IDEAS

• Popular long ideas: EMC, SNDK, STX
• Popular short ideas: SNDK, WDC, STEC
• Top dividend plays: STX, XRTX, WDC
• Pro favorites: EMC, STX, WDC

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DATA STORAGE COVERAGE

Billions of gigabytes of data are saved using the hard drives and storage solutions provided by these firms

• Analysts Hammer STEC Following Weak Guidance (STEC, OCZ, FIO, EMC, NTAP, STX, WDC)
• SanDisk, Western Digital Lift Data Storage Stocks (SNDK, WDC, STX, EMC, STEC, NTAP, OCZ)
• Seagate Slammed By Margin Concerns, Rare Earths Prices (STX, WDC, OCZ, EMC, NTAP, SNDK, STEC, MCP)

DATA STORAGE CHART

DATA STORAGE METRICS

Avg. Market Cap:	$6.6B
Avg. P/E Ratio:	18.1
Avg. Div Yield:	0.5%

STEC, Inc. (STEC) spiked by 5% on Monday after ThinkEquity upgraded the stock to Buy from Hold, citing an expected second-half surge enterprise solid-state drive (SSD) demand. The firm said EMC (EMC) and IBM (IBM) are expected drivers, noting that the inventory overhang at the former, which hammered STEC shares earlier this year, has been resolved. Barring a major sell-off from today’s highs, STEC is set to close its seventh straight session in positive territory on its longest run since the stock’s eleven-day rally in December of 2009. It will be interesting to see if ThinkEquity is on target, and whether any other analysts jump on board.

As a whole, the Data Storage Stocks Index is ahead by 1% today. The Index is currently outperforming the S&P 500 by 5% over the past month. STEC is ahead by 30% for the period, gaining more than 20% in the last week alone.

Elsewhere in the sector, seven of the Index’s eighteen components have jumped by more than 10% over the past week. Small- to micro-caps Hutchinson Technology (HTCH), Netlist (NLST), and Dataram (DRAM) are all among top performers, and giants Seagate Technology (STX), NetApp (NTAP), and Western Digital (WDC) have all gained more than 5%.

Despite their recent rallies, most Data Storage Stocks Index components are still -20% or more from their respective 52-week highs. Investors can track the Data Storage Stocks Index for performance trends, Pro holdings data, and a suite of other metrics at tickerspy.com.

Tags: DRAM, EMC, HTCH, IBM, NLST, NTAP, STEC, STX, WDC