SanDisk CEO Touts 'Second Christmas'
By: SanDisk on Thursday posted a first-quarter loss on plunging product prices. In a "First on CNBC" interview, the flash-memory maker's co-Chairman and CEO, Eli Harari, told "Closing Bell" viewers about an "industry in downturn" -- but pointed out "really bright spots" in a glum quarter.
Harari conceded it was a "tough quarter," with the entire industry suffering excess inventory. "Although [global] demand is strong, it is not keeping up with supply," he told CNBC's Melissa Francis.
But the CEO pointed to hopeful signs, including a "very important deal" with Hynix Semiconductor in March, and this week's announcement by Dell that it would launch notebook computers incorporating SanDisk's "solid-state disk" technology. And he noted that the quarter marked the first time handsets became SanDisk's top revenue generator.
Harari predicted that margins would remain depressed in the second quarter, but start to pick up in the quarter's second half, thanks to the season of "Moms, Dads, grads and proms" -- the company's "second Christmas."
