LRCX
Lam Research Corporation
LRCX has lower modeled downside risk, despite its lower overall score.
SNDK
Sandisk Corporation
SNDK has the edge over LRCX overall, supported by stronger valuation and stronger fundamentals.
LRCX Fundamentals
| Metric | Status |
|---|---|
| Strong | |
| Strong | |
| Strong | |
| Strong |
LRCX's revenue, profitability, cash flow and balance sheet are all currently strong.
SNDK Fundamentals
| Metric | Status |
|---|---|
| Strong | |
| Strong | |
| Strong | |
| Strong |
SNDK's revenue, profitability, cash flow and balance sheet are all currently strong.
LRCX PE Valuation
| Level | PE | Price | Vs current |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cheap | 16x | $109 | -53% |
| Forward | 23x | $234 | — |
| Fair | 24x | $161 | -31% |
| Expensive | 35x | $236 | +0.9% |
| Current | 35x | $234 | — |
Historical ranges are pointers, not guarantees.
LRCX's PE is in its expensive range at 35x. If earnings grow as analysts expect, today's price would be 23x next year's earnings, in its fair range.
SNDK PE Valuation
| Level | PE | Price | Vs current |
|---|---|---|---|
| Forward | 3.8x | $937 | — |
| Current | 7.5x | $937 | — |
| Cheap | 17x | $2,173 | +132% |
| Fair | 24x | $3,048 | +225% |
| Expensive | 59x | $7,452 | +695% |
Historical ranges are pointers, not guarantees.
SNDK has the edge over LRCX in the historical PE scenario, which offers more potential upside but is not a forecast.
LRCX Forward outlook
| Metric | Outlook |
|---|---|
| Strongly improving | |
| Strong growth | |
| Strong growth | |
| Strongly improving | |
| Moderate | |
| High |
Analysts expect strong earnings and revenue growth for LRCX, with profitability improving.
SNDK Forward outlook
| Metric | Outlook |
|---|---|
| Strongly improving | |
| Strong growth | |
| Strong growth | |
| Strongly improving | |
| Moderate | |
| High |
Analysts expect strong earnings and revenue growth for SNDK, with profitability improving.
LRCX Earnings Per Share
| Quarter | TTM EPS | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Forward | $10.20 | +52% |
| Q3 2026 | $6.71 | +48% |
| Q2 2026 | $5.76 | +39% |
| Q1 2026 | $5.29 | +47% |
| Q4 2025 | $4.87 | +48% |
| Q3 2025 | $4.53 | +47% |
| Q2 2025 | $4.15 | +43% |
| Q1 2025 | $3.59 | +32% |
| Q4 2024 | $3.29 | +27% |
LRCX's earnings per share have climbed steadily: $6.71 over the past year, up 48% from the year before, and higher year over year for nine quarters in a row.
SNDK Earnings Per Share
| Quarter | TTM EPS | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Forward | $247.30 | +97% |
| Q3 2026 | $125.61 | +$137.63 |
| Q2 2026 | $73.76 | +$85.07 |
| Q2 2025 | -$11.31 | -$6.65 |
SNDK has the edge over LRCX in the latest year-over-year earnings comparison.
LRCX Quarterly Revenue
| Quarter | Revenue | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | $8.2B | +54% |
| Q2 2026 | $6.7B | +30% |
| Q1 2026 | $5.8B | +24% |
| Q4 2025 | $5.3B | +22% |
| Q3 2025 | $5.3B | +28% |
| Q2 2025 | $5.2B | +34% |
| Q1 2025 | $4.7B | +24% |
| Q4 2024 | $4.4B | +16% |
LRCX's revenue has grown year over year for 10 quarters in a row: $8.2B last quarter, up 54% from the same quarter a year ago.
| Quarter | Margin | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | 40% | +5.6 points |
| Q2 2026 | 37% | +3.7 points |
| Q1 2026 | 35% | +1.9 points |
| Q4 2025 | 34% | +3.4 points |
| Q3 2025 | 34% | +4 points |
| Q2 2025 | 34% | +4.6 points |
| Q1 2025 | 33% | +5.2 points |
| Q4 2024 | 30% | +2.4 points |
LRCX's operating margin was 40% last quarter, up 5.6 points from the same quarter a year ago, near the top of its range since 2019.
SNDK Quarterly Revenue
| Quarter | Revenue | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | $11B | +378% |
| Q2 2026 | $9B | +372% |
| Q1 2026 | $6B | +251% |
| Q4 2025 | $3B | +61% |
| Q3 2025 | $2.3B | +23% |
| Q2 2025 | $1.9B | +8% |
| Q1 2025 | $1.7B | -0.6% |
| Q4 2024 | $1.9B | +13% |
SNDK's revenue has grown year over year for six quarters in a row: $11B last quarter, up 378% from the same quarter a year ago.
| Quarter | Margin | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | 80% | +72 points |
| Q2 2026 | 78% | +78 points |
| Q1 2026 | 69% | +180 points |
| Q4 2025 | 35% | +25 points |
| Q3 2025 | 7.6% | -9 points |
| Q2 2025 | 0.9% | N/A |
| Q1 2025 | -111% | -122 points |
| Q4 2024 | 10% | +6.6 points |
SNDK has the edge over LRCX on profitability, with a higher operating margin.
LRCX Free Cash Flow
| Quarter | Free cash flow | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | $3.2B | +103% |
| Q2 2026 | $1.3B | -47% |
| Q1 2026 | $809.8M | -21% |
| Q4 2025 | $1.2B | +120% |
| Q3 2025 | $1.6B | +9.3% |
| Q2 2025 | $2.4B | +213% |
| Q1 2025 | $1B | -20% |
| Q4 2024 | $553.6M | -59% |
LRCX's free cash flow has been positive every quarter for seven years: $6.5B over the past year, up 18% from the year before.
SNDK Free Cash Flow
| Quarter | Free cash flow | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | $6.3B | +1340% |
| Q2 2026 | $7.1B | +14355% |
| Q1 2026 | $3B | +$3B |
| Q3 2025 | $438M | +$636M |
| Q2 2025 | $49M | +$217M |
| Q1 2025 | -$18M | +$23M |
| Q3 2024 | -$198M | -$157M |
SNDK has the edge over LRCX on cash flow, with more consistent year-over-year improvement.
LRCX Total Shares
| Period | Change % | Net change |
|---|---|---|
| Quarterly | -0.4% | -5.3M shares |
| 1 year | -1.1% | -13.5M shares |
| 3 years | -5.7% | -75.9M shares |
| 5 years | -12% | -170M shares |
| Available history | -16% | -245M shares |
LRCX has the edge over SNDK on shareholder dilution, with a more favorable share count trend.
| Quarter | Spent |
|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | $1B |
| Q2 2026 | $246.6M |
| Q1 2026 | $1.2B |
| Q4 2025 | $1.5B |
| Q3 2025 | $975.8M |
| Q2 2025 | $1.3B |
| Q1 2025 | $435.3M |
| Q4 2024 | $697.7M |
LRCX spent $3.9B buying back its own shares over the past year, up 15% from the year before.
SNDK Total Shares
| Period | Change % | Net change |
|---|---|---|
| Quarterly | -0.6% | -1M shares |
| 1 year | +3.4% | +5M shares |
| 3 years | +6.9% | +10M shares |
SNDK has 154M diluted shares, up 3.4% from a year ago.
| Quarter | Spent |
|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | $5B |
| Q3 2024 | — |
| Q2 2024 | — |
| Q1 2024 | — |
| Q4 2023 | — |
| Q3 2023 | — |
LRCX Net Leverage
| Quarter | Net Leverage | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | -0.4x | Net Cash |
| Q2 2026 | -0.2x | Net Cash |
| Q1 2026 | -0.1x | Net Cash |
| Q4 2025 | -0.2x | Net Cash |
| Q3 2025 | -0.3x | Net Cash |
| Q2 2025 | -0.3x | Net Cash |
| Q1 2025 | -0.2x | Net Cash |
| Q4 2024 | -0.1x | Net Cash |
LRCX has the edge over SNDK on leverage, with a lower net debt burden relative to earnings.
SNDK Net Leverage
| Quarter | Net Leverage | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | -0.2x | Net Cash |
| Q2 2026 | -0.4x | Net Cash |
| Q1 2026 | -0.7x | Net Cash |
SNDK has more cash than debt.
LRCX Weekly Momentum
| Metric | Value | Status |
|---|---|---|
| RSI | 42.5 | Neutral |
| Stochastic | 16.7 | Oversold |
LRCX's weekly RSI is 43 (neutral) and its Stochastic is 17 (oversold).
SNDK Weekly Momentum
| Metric | Value | Status |
|---|---|---|
| RSI | 40.2 | Neutral |
| Stochastic | 10.6 | Oversold |
SNDK's weekly RSI is 40 (neutral) and its Stochastic is 11 (oversold).
LRCX PE vs Technology Sector
| Metric | LRCX | Sector median | Relative |
|---|---|---|---|
| PE | 35x | 28x | 25% above |
| PE % | 82 | 35 | 47 pts above |
LRCX is trading at 35x earnings, a 25% premium to the Technology sector's median of 28x.
SNDK PE vs Technology Sector
| Metric | SNDK | Sector median | Relative |
|---|---|---|---|
| PE | 7.5x | 28x | 73% below |
| PE % | 4 | 27 | 23 pts below |
SNDK has the edge over LRCX on valuation relative to its sector.
LRCX Weekly Moving Averages
| Moving average | MA price | Relative |
|---|---|---|
| 8 week MA | $268.6 | 13% below |
| 20 week MA | $295.8 | 21% below |
| 50 week MA | $267.5 | 13% below |
| 100 week MA | $182.7 | 28% above |
| 200 week MA | $128.3 | 82% above |
LRCX has stronger trend alignment. LRCX is above 2 of 5 weekly averages versus SNDK above 0 of 3.
SNDK Weekly Moving Averages
| Moving average | MA price | Relative |
|---|---|---|
| 8 week MA | $1,317.5 | 29% below |
| 20 week MA | $1,465.4 | 36% below |
| 50 week MA | $1,119.6 | 16% below |
SNDK is in a downtrend: it's below all three of its weekly moving averages, and 16% below its 50-week average.
LRCX Yearly ROI
| Year | Start price | End price | ROI |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | $29.4 | $48.0 | +64% |
| 2021 | $48.0 | $69.9 | +45% |
| 2022 | $69.9 | $41.2 | -41% |
| 2023 | $41.2 | $78.3 | +90% |
| 2024 | $78.3 | $73.4 | -6.3% |
| 2025 | $73.4 | $178.1 | +143% |
| 2026 YTD | $178.1 | $233.8 | +31% |
LRCX's yearly returns have swung widely, from +143% in 2025 to −41% in 2022. It's up 31% so far in 2026.
SNDK Yearly ROI
| Year | Start price | End price | ROI |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | $50.4 | $250.1 | +396% |
| 2026 YTD | $250.1 | $937.5 | +275% |
SNDK has the edge over LRCX on returns for 2026, with the stronger performance.