Russ Cohen

Is NetApp Stock Underperforming the Dow?

With a market cap of $18.7 billion, NetApp, Inc. (NTAP) is an intelligent data infrastructure company that provides a range of enterprise software, systems, and services that customers use to transform their data infrastructures. The San Jose, California-based company operates in two segments: Hybrid Cloud and Public Cloud.

Companies valued at $10 billion or more are generally classified as “large-cap” stocks, and NetApp fits this description perfectly. The company combines unified data storage, integrated data, and operational and workload services. It also creates silo-free infrastructure, harnessing observability and AI to enable the industry’s best data management.

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However, the data storage company dropped 32% from its 52-week high of $135.45. In the last three months, NTAP has dipped 22.3%, underperforming the broader Dow Jones Industrials Average’s ($DOWI) 2.1% decline.

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Longer term, NetApp slipped 20.7% on a YTD basis, lagging behind DOWI’s 1.4% decrease. Moreover, shares of NTAP have declined 11.8% over the past 52 weeks, whereas the Dow Jones rose 6.2%  over the same time frame.

The stock has been trading below its 50-day and 200-day moving averages since the beginning of March.

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Despite meeting Wall Street expectations with Q3 2025 adjusted earnings of $1.91 on Feb. 27, NTAP shares fell 15.6% on the following day as the company missed Street forecasts and came in at $1.6 billion. For fiscal year 2025, NetApp expects earnings to be in the range of $7.17 per share to $7.27 per share, with revenue ranging between $6.5 billion to $6.6 billion. 

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Further, in comparison, rival Dell Technologies Inc. (DELL) has outpaced NTAP. DELL stock decreased 10.9% over the past 52 weeks and experienced a decline of 14.2% on a YTD basis.

Despite its underperformance compared to broader markets over the past year, analysts are moderately optimistic about NTAP’s prospects. With a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating from 19 analysts, the stock is currently trading below the mean price target of $121.20.