Updated 23 October 2026. Sandisk (NASDAQ: SNDK) closed at $1,260.93 on Thursday 22 October, down $117.29 or 8.5 percent, and slipped a further 2.3 percent to $1,232.00 in after-hours trade at 7:59 pm ET (StockAnalysis). Its former parent Western Digital then beat on every line, with adjusted EPS of $4.64 against $4.08 expected and a $5.80 guide for the December quarter, and still fell about 6.5 percent after hours on rising input costs and higher capex (Investing.com, StockAnalysis). Verdict: the memory tape is selling good news. Sandisk reports on 29 October with a $44-$46 EPS guide; the Western Digital call said the NAND it buys is getting dearer, which is Sandisk’s revenue line. Reference levels: $1,100 below, $1,500 above.
Key facts
- Price: SNDK $1,260.93 at Thursday’s close, down 8.51 percent, after a $1,244.60-$1,355.00 range; $1,232.00 after hours at 7:59 pm ET, down 2.29 percent (StockAnalysis). Market value $184.6 billion; 52-week range $144.82-$2,354.39. The stock is still up 429 percent in 2026 (24/7 Wall St).
- Thursday’s selloff: memory and storage stocks extended a multi-session decline on worries about Chinese competitors such as CXMT adding supply and on AI-spending doubts; Western Digital fell 6.4 percent to $354.19, Micron 6.3 percent to $856.49, and the Roundhill Memory ETF 7 percent, against a 2.9 percent drop in the Invesco QQQ (24/7 Wall St, StockAnalysis).
- Western Digital’s quarter (fiscal Q1 FY27, reported after the close): adjusted EPS $4.64 versus $4.08 expected, up 161 percent year on year; revenue $4.38 billion, up 55 percent, versus $4.14 billion; non-GAAP gross margin 58.1 percent, up from 43.9 percent; operating margin 49.1 percent; free cash flow $1.38 billion; dividend raised 17 percent to $0.175 (Investing.com).
- Guidance: December-quarter revenue $5.0-$5.2 billion, a midpoint 12 percent above the $4.57 billion consensus; adjusted EPS $5.60-$6.00, a midpoint 20 percent above $4.82; gross margin 60-61 percent (Investing.com).
- Why the stock fell anyway: shares rose about 4 percent on the release, then reversed on the call. Management said capex will average 4-6 percent of revenue over five years and run modestly above that for the next two, and that near-term cost-per-terabyte gains will fall short of the 10 percent long-run target because of rising DRAM and NAND input costs (Investing.com transcript). After hours WDC traded $331.19 at 7:59 pm ET, down 6.49 percent (StockAnalysis); Investing.com India had it at $337.01, down 4.85 percent.
- Demand: Western Digital shipped 248 exabytes, up 22 percent year on year and 8 percent sequentially; blended average selling price per terabyte rose 28 percent; cloud revenue was $3.9 billion, 88 percent of the total. CFO Kris Sennesael: “We continue to operate in a very strong, favorable pricing environment.” CEO Irving Tan: “AI is fundamentally a data system.”
- Sandisk’s own print: fiscal first-quarter 2027 results on Thursday 29 October, call at 1:30 pm PT (Sandisk IR). Company guidance: non-GAAP EPS $44.00-$46.00 on revenue of $10.3-$10.8 billion. Consensus runs from $44.21 on $10.56 billion (TipRanks) to $46.01 on $10.67 billion (Earnings Whispers). In the June quarter Sandisk beat the $33.28 consensus with $39.25, and about two-thirds of its sequential growth came from price.
- Analysts: Mizuho reiterated Outperform on 22 October, arguing flash pricing should stay stable because capacity outside China is largely unchanged (24/7 Wall St); its target is $2,050 (Vijay Rakesh, 6 October). Citi $2,100 (9 October), Bernstein $3,000, Rosenblatt $2,400, Susquehanna $2,745. Consensus of 25 analysts: Buy, average target $2,173, low $1,000, high $3,600 (StockAnalysis, 9 October).
What Western Digital told Sandisk holders
Thursday’s print was the one we previewed on Wednesday’s page, and it cleared the bar by a wide margin. The reason the stock fell is the reason Sandisk should not have: Western Digital builds hard drives, and the controllers and caches inside them use DRAM and NAND that it buys from companies like Sandisk and Micron. When its CFO says input costs are rising faster than value engineering can offset, he is describing NAND inflation from the customer’s side. Sandisk’s June quarter already showed about two-thirds of its growth coming from price, and Mizuho’s case for the stock rests on capacity outside China staying flat through 2027.
The bear reading is the one the market chose. If the hard-drive maker with 60 percent gross margins and a 20 percent guide beat still cannot hold its price, the sector is being de-rated on something other than this quarter’s numbers: Chinese supply, AI capex fatigue, and the question BofA’s Vivek Arya raised about whether customers trim memory spending when it reaches “half or more of the bill of materials”. That is the same debate we laid out on Thursday’s Micron page, and it does not resolve until Sandisk’s own guide for the March quarter on 29 October.
Sandisk into 29 October: bull, base and bear
| Scenario | SNDK | What has to happen | Anchor |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bear | $1,100 | The de-rating continues into the print, the March-quarter guide lands inside consensus rather than above it, and Chinese NAND headlines keep coming. | About 13 percent below Thursday’s $1,260.93 and roughly 11 percent below the after-hours $1,232; above the $1,000 low Street target. |
| Base | $1,200-$1,350 | The stock trades the sector tape into results, with Thursday’s range holding and Western Digital’s pricing commentary limiting the downside. | Thursday’s $1,244.60-$1,355.00 intraday range extended to the after-hours print. |
| Bull | $1,500 | Sandisk beats its $44-$46 guide and guides the March quarter above consensus, and Western Digital’s pricing read-through is confirmed. | About 19 percent above Thursday’s close, still below the $1,875 Mizuho target in force before October and the $2,050 current one. |
The bear case sits below Thursday’s close. These are reference levels measured from the verified quotes, not forecasts.
What to watch on Friday
- The open: whether SNDK follows Western Digital’s after-hours drop or decouples on the NAND-cost read-through.
- Western Digital’s open: a close near $331 would be a 12 percent two-day loss on a beat-and-raise; a recovery would say the call reaction was overdone.
- Micron and the Roundhill Memory ETF: the sector tape has moved SNDK more than SNDK news has in October.
- Estimate changes: any Street notes that move Sandisk’s $44-$46 guide after Western Digital’s input-cost comment.
- Seagate: it reports next week and will confirm or deny the hard-drive cost story.
Quick take: Sandisk is $1,261 after an 8.5 percent drop and traded $1,232 after hours. Western Digital beat with $4.64 and guided $5.80 but fell 6.5 percent after hours on rising NAND and DRAM costs and higher capex. Rising NAND costs are Sandisk’s revenue. Expect $1,200-$1,350 into the 29 October print. A continued de-rating and an in-line guide open $1,100. A beat and a guide above consensus open $1,500.
FAQ
What is the Sandisk stock price today?
SNDK closed at $1,260.93 on Thursday 22 October 2026, down 8.51 percent, and traded $1,232.00 after hours at 7:59 pm ET, down a further 2.29 percent (StockAnalysis).
What did Western Digital report?
Adjusted EPS of $4.64 versus $4.08 expected on revenue of $4.38 billion, up 55 percent, with a December-quarter guide of $5.60-$6.00 EPS on $5.0-$5.2 billion revenue and 60-61 percent gross margin (Investing.com, 22 October).
Why did Western Digital stock fall after a beat?
Management said capex will run above its 4-6 percent of revenue range for two years and that rising DRAM and NAND input costs will slow cost-per-terabyte gains. The stock reversed from up 4 percent to down about 6.5 percent after hours (Investing.com, StockAnalysis).
Why does that matter for Sandisk?
Sandisk sells NAND. A hard-drive maker complaining that NAND is getting more expensive is confirming the pricing tailwind Mizuho and Citi base their targets on.
When does Sandisk report?
Fiscal first-quarter 2027 results on Thursday 29 October 2026, with the call at 1:30 pm PT. Guidance is $44-$46 non-GAAP EPS on $10.3-$10.8 billion of revenue (Sandisk IR).
What are analysts’ targets for SNDK?
Mizuho $2,050, Citi $2,100, Rosenblatt $2,400, Susquehanna $2,745, Bernstein $3,000; the 25-analyst consensus average is $2,173 with a $1,000 low (StockAnalysis, 9 October).
Why did memory stocks fall on 22 October?
A multi-session selloff on worries about Chinese competitors such as CXMT adding supply and on AI-spending doubts; the Roundhill Memory ETF fell 7 percent (24/7 Wall St).
Sources: StockAnalysis (SNDK and WDC closes, after-hours prices at 7:59 pm ET, ranges, market value, analyst consensus and targets, 22 October 2026); Investing.com (Western Digital results, guidance, capex and cost commentary, stock reaction, 22 October; earnings-call transcript with Irving Tan and Kris Sennesael quotes, exabytes, pricing, cloud revenue, 23 October); 24/7 Wall St (memory selloff, Mizuho reiteration, year-to-date gain, 22 October); Sandisk investor relations (29 October results date and call time); TipRanks and Earnings Whispers (Sandisk consensus); Yahoo Finance (BofA’s Vivek Arya comment, 22 October).
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial or investment advice. Equity prices are volatile. Do your own research and consult a licensed financial adviser before making investment decisions.
