Sanmina (SANM) ☆

Sanmina is an integrated manufacturing-solutions provider. Its FY2024 10-K describes an Integrated Manufacturing Solutions business (printed circuit board assembly and test, high-level assembly and test, direct-order fulfillment; approximately 80% of 2024 revenue) and a Components, Products and Services business (approximately 20%) that makes printed circuit boards, backplanes, cable assemblies, fabricated metal and machined parts, plus Viking storage and memory products and SCI defense and aerospace products. On October 27, 2025 it completed the acquisition of ZT Systems' data center infrastructure manufacturing business from AMD, under which Sanmina is "a U.S.-based, preferred new product introduction (NPI) manufacturing partner" for AMD cloud rack and cluster-scale AI solutions. The deal reshaped the mix: net sales for the quarter ended June 27, 2026 were $3,464,016 thousand against $2,041,562 thousand a year earlier (Q3 FY2026 release: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/897723/000089772326000036/sanmina_exx991xjune272026.htm), and on the call management put ZT Systems revenue at $1.1 billion and said "Communication networks, cloud, and AI infrastructure was 62% of our revenue" and that it is "very confident in shipping 16 plus billion dollars in fiscal year 27". The economics remain those of contract manufacturing in an industry its own 10-K calls "extremely price sensitive": ten customers have historically been "approximately half of our net sales", supply agreements generally carry no minimum purchase obligations, and Foxconn, Jabil, Flex and Celestica are named competitors. An independent tally (EMSNOW/in4ma, 2026-03-06) places Sanmina in the US "big four" EMS group, behind Foxconn, Wistron, Quanta and Wiwynn, which together account for "nearly 57% of global EMS/ODM production". More scale in AI infrastructure, but no moat.

Rating: none

Sanmina's FY2024 10-K (fiscal year ended September 28, 2024) says "The EMS industry is highly competitive and the industry has experienced a surplus of manufacturing capacity", that "We may not be able to offer prices as low as some of our competitors", and that "due to the extremely price sensitive nature of our industry, business that we do win or maintain may have lower margins than our historical or target margins". It names Benchmark Electronics, Celestica, Flex, Foxconn, Jabil and Plexus as competitors and adds that OEM customers "may elect to manufacture their own products internally rather than outsource to EMS providers". Stored fundamentals (SEC XBRL) show gross profit of $743,211 thousand on $8,935,048 thousand of net sales in fiscal 2023, $640,429 thousand on $7,568,328 thousand in fiscal 2024 and $716,357 thousand on $8,128,382 thousand in fiscal 2025. The ZT Systems acquisition (completed 2025-10-27) added scale in cloud and AI rack manufacturing, but its release describes capacity and a preferred-partner arrangement with AMD, not a protected position. No moat is claimable.

Type: none

The FY2024 10-K's claimed strengths are breadth and vertical integration: end-to-end solutions it believes "are among the most comprehensive in the industry", design and engineering resources, and in-house components such as high-technology printed circuit boards, backplanes and cable assemblies. None is a durable barrier on the filing's own terms: "A number of our patents have expired or will expire in the near term", "Our supply agreements generally do not obligate the customer to purchase minimum quantities of products", and customers "usually do not make firm orders for product delivery more than thirty to ninety days in advance".

Leadership: at parity

EMSNOW/in4ma's "EMS&ODM Global 100" (2026-03-06, https://www.emsnow.com/?p=53535) groups Sanmina with Jabil, Flex and Celestica as the US "big four", "representing about 85% of the revenue base among ~20 US headquartered EMS/ODM", while Wistron, Quanta and Wiwynn "plus Foxconn together account for nearly 57% of global EMS/ODM production". Within that peer group Sanmina is smaller than its largest rivals: its updated fiscal 2026 revenue outlook is $14.0 billion to $14.3 billion (Q3 FY2026 release), against fiscal 2026 net revenue of $36.0 billion at Jabil (https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/898293/000162828026063890/jbl-20260930ex991.htm). The ZT Systems release's claim that the combination "positions Sanmina as a leader in the Cloud and AI end-market" is the company's own. A peer of the large Western contract manufacturers, not a leader: at parity.

Pricing power: weak

The FY2024 10-K says "We may not be able to offer prices as low as some of our competitors for any number of reasons, including the willingness of competitors to provide EMS services at prices we are unable or unwilling to offer", and that supply agreements sometimes "include provisions for cost reduction objectives during the term of the agreement, which can have the effect of reducing revenue and profitability". Margins have improved with mix: on the Q3 FY2026 call (https://earningswhispers.com/transcript/SANM/Q32026) management said "Our non-GAAP gross profit was $370 million, or 10.7% of revenue. This was up 160 basis points versus the same period a year ago, driven by both favorable mix and non-recurring engineering services."

Curated moat judgment grounded in the cited source. source: sec.gov

Compare with…

Value-chain position

Layer: servers & ODM

• Upstream (suppliers): —
• Downstream (customers): —
• Competitors: Celestica

Contract manufacturer whose components arm feeds its own assembly lines; since the ZT Systems acquisition it is a U.S.-based preferred NPI manufacturing partner for AMD cloud rack and cluster-scale AI solutions, and on the Q3 FY2026 call cited "strong growth in our metal fabrication business for AI system racks".

Derived from this company's mapped supply-chain edges and its industry layer.

Signal contribution editorial prior

The moat prior voted -0.06 on the long (~6-month) horizon at weight 0.20 — the swarm call there is neutral (score 0.03, conviction 0).

Editorial prior — subjective, not backtested. It is bounded (±0.6), low-confidence, and never votes on short/medium. See exactly how it voted →

Product lineup

Products & services with an editorial market-share band and technical barrier band — qualitative judgments tied to a cited basis, never invented figures.

What you're looking at

These charts plot Sanmina's reported income statement, cash flow, and balance sheet from its SEC filings through 2026-07-27. Every figure is as-filed XBRL — none of it is an estimate.

Over the reported window, net income at $245.9M in FY2025.

Our model leans Bullish on the stock over the medium horizon — a market-direction call, not an earnings forecast. See the Signal tab.

Filings

• 2025Q3 · filed 2026-07-27 source: sec.gov
• 2026Q2 · filed 2026-07-27 source: sec.gov
• 2025Q2 · filed 2026-07-27 source: sec.gov
• 2026Q1 · filed 2026-04-27 source: sec.gov
• 2025Q1 · filed 2026-04-27 source: sec.gov

Key ratios vs peers

Comparing against peers…

Institutional holders (13F, 2026Q2)

TradingPilot-computed columns (% of 13F, % shares out) are derived from as-filed 13F values; only name, shares and value are as-filed.