Sandisk (NASDAQ:SNDK) Stock Price Up 13.7% – Here’s Why

Shares of Sandisk Corporation (NASDAQ:SNDK) traded up 13.7% during trading on Wednesday. The stock traded as high as $1,011.05 and last traded at $977.69. Approximately 15,790,707 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 7% from the average session volume of 14,814,410 shares. The stock had previously closed at $859.99.

Key Stories Impacting Sandisk

Here are a few of the latest stories about SNDK:

• Positive Sentiment: Sandisk’s latest quarter showed strong operating performance: fiscal first-quarter sales were reported at about $11 billion, with an 85.1% non-GAAP gross margin. Management’s current-quarter adjusted earnings outlook is $55–$57 per share before the planned stock split, providing a fundamental support for the bullish case. Article: Sandisk Stock Is Back Above the $900 Price I Set for Buying It. Here’s Why I’m Holding Off.
• Negative Sentiment: The main near-term drag is weakness across AI and semiconductor stocks after reports of NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang’s resignation unsettled investors. Because Sandisk’s memory-chip demand is linked in part to AI hardware spending, concerns about the durability of the AI buildout have spread to SNDK and other memory makers. Article: Why Sandisk Stock Is Falling Today
• Negative Sentiment: Investors are also watching rising NAND competition and the risk that memory pricing could weaken. If prices fall, Sandisk’s unusually strong margins and earnings could come under pressure. Article: Why are Micron, SK Hynix, and SanDisk stocks falling on Friday?

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on SNDK shares. Fox Advisors downgraded shares of Sandisk from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, November 2nd. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Sandisk in a research note on Thursday, October 1st. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and set a $3,100.00 price objective (up from $1,400.00) on shares of Sandisk in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Sandisk from $1,550.00 to $1,300.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $2,200.00 price objective (up from $1,200.00) on shares of Sandisk in a report on Thursday, August 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $2,056.23.

Sandisk Price Performance

The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $1,454.83 and a 200 day simple moving average of $1,273.54. The firm has a market cap of $124.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.98, a PEG ratio of 0.08 and a beta of 5.66.

Sandisk shares are scheduled to split on Friday, November 20th. The 8-1 split was announced on Thursday, October 29th. The newly issued shares will be issued to shareholders after the closing bell on Thursday, November 19th.

Sandisk (NASDAQ:SNDK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The data storage provider reported $49.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $46.19 by $3.32. Sandisk had a return on equity of 125.70% and a net margin of 67.04%. The company had revenue of $11.03 billion for the quarter. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.22 EPS. Sandisk’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Sandisk Corporation will post 226.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sandisk announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Wednesday, August 5th that authorizes the company to repurchase $14 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the data storage provider to repurchase up to 6.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Share buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO David Goeckeler sold 33,841 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,574.21, for a total value of $53,272,840.61. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 382,865 shares in the company, valued at approximately $602,709,911.65. This represents a 8.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Luis Visoso sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,568.83, for a total value of $1,568,830.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 130,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $205,479,078.08. The trade was a 0.76% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 77,899 shares of company stock worth $121,156,782. 0.29% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sandisk

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Sandisk during the 2nd quarter valued at about $23,408,732,000. Situational Awareness LP grew its holdings in shares of Sandisk by 42.4% in the 2nd quarter. Situational Awareness LP now owns 2,495,344 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $5,673,739,000 after purchasing an additional 743,325 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Sandisk by 71.2% in the second quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,066,886 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $2,425,811,000 after buying an additional 443,714 shares in the last quarter. Amundi increased its holdings in shares of Sandisk by 135.5% during the first quarter. Amundi now owns 872,632 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $554,418,000 after buying an additional 502,166 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in shares of Sandisk by 33.3% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 828,900 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $1,442,195,000 after acquiring an additional 207,051 shares during the last quarter.

About Sandisk

SanDisk Corporation offers flash storage solutions. The Company designs, develops and manufactures data storage solutions in a range of form factors using flash memory, controller, firmware and software technologies. The Company operates through flash memory storage products segment. Its solutions include a range of solid state drives (SSD), embedded products, removable cards, universal serial bus (USB), drives, wireless media drives, digital media players, and wafers and components. It offers SSDs for client computing applications, which encompass desktop computers, notebook computers, tablets and other computing devices.