Netlist, Inc. NLST recently secured $118 million in damages in a trial against Samsung (Samsung Electronics Co., LTD., Samsung Electronics America, Inc., and Samsung Semiconductor, Inc.). The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas awarded Netlist following a jury trial involving three of its patents. The unanimous verdict underscores the strength of Netlist’s patent portfolio and its commitment to securing fair compensation for the unauthorized use of its technology.

Netlist filed its lawsuit against Samsung in August 2022, which highlighted the unauthorized use of its patented technologies in Samsung's DDR4 RDIMMs and DDR4 LRDIMMs. The case focused on violating three patents owned by Netlist—U.S. Patent Nos. 7,619,912, 11,093,417 and 10,268,608. After a thorough examination, the federal jury unanimously determined that Samsung had infringed all three Netlist patents. None of the patents were invalid, confirming their originality. Samsung’s infringement was intentional, indicating willful violations of Netlist's intellectual property, noted a federal jury.

Moreover, the company has been on a winning streak, securing multiple jury awards over the past two years.  These awards are crucial in Netlist’s mission to safeguard its intellectual property, as it brings the company’s total damages awards from patent infringement cases to a staggering $866 million over the past 19 months.

Netlist, Inc. Price and Consensus

Netlist, Inc. price-consensus-chart | Netlist, Inc. Quote

In May 2024, NLST won a $445 million verdict against Micron Technology, Inc., Micron Semiconductor Products, Inc., and Micron Technology Texas LLC for willful infringement of its patents. NLST added that its legal campaigns were among the most successful in the semiconductor sector during this period.

In 2023, Samsung was found guilty of intentionally infringing on NLST’s patented technologies, including HBM and DDR5, which are fundamental to generative AI computing. As a result, Netlist was awarded more than $303 million in compensation as a fair royalty for the infringement during a limited past damages period. This amount also included pre-and post-judgment interest, along with legal costs.

Irvine, CA-based NLST is a leading designer and manufacturer of high-performance memory subsystems for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) across the globe. Its rich portfolio of patented technologies provides cost-effective solutions backed by top performance and high density. The patents are from the fields of storage class memory, hybrid memory, rank multiplication, load reduction and others.

In the last reported quarter, NLST’s revenues skyrocketed 140% year over year to $40.2 million, driven by heightened demand in the memory market. The top line beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 5.75%. It is collaborating closely with its partners and utilizing the five-year, $600 million supply agreement with SK hynix to deliver innovative solutions to its customers in the near term.

NLST’s Zacks Rank & Stock Price Performance

NLST currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). The stock has lost 19.4% in the past year against the sub-industry’s growth of 34.5%.

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Other Stocks to Consider

Some other top-ranked stocks from the broader technology space are Plexus Corp., Inc. PLXS, Workday Inc. WDAY and InterDigital, Inc. IDCC. IDCC & PLXS presently sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), whereas WDAY carries a Zacks Rank #2. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

IDCC is a pioneer in advanced mobile technologies that enable wireless communications and capabilities. The company engages in designing and developing a wide range of advanced technology solutions, which are used in digital cellular as well as wireless 3G, 4G and IEEE 802-related products and networks. It has a long-term growth expectation of 17.44%

Plexus is a leading provider of electronic contract manufacturing services to OEMs in a wide range of industries, including Healthcare/Life Sciences, Industrial and Aerospace/Defense market sectors. In the last reported quarter, PLXS delivered an earnings surprise of 20.92%.

WDAY is a leading provider of enterprise-level software solutions for financial management and human resource domains. The company’s cloud-based platform combines finance and HR in a single system, making it easier for organizations to provide analytical insights and decision support. In the last reported quarter, it delivered an earnings surprise of 7.36%.

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