SanDisk (SNDK) shares continued their meteoric rise on Monday after Susquehanna Financial Group raised its price target to $3,250 from $2,000, marking one of the most aggressive Wall Street calls on a memory-chip stock in years. The stock traded at $1,768.85, up $73.87, as investors reassess whether SanDisk is still a cyclical semiconductor play or has evolved into a critical bottleneck in the artificial-intelligence supply chain.
The upgrade underscores a growing conviction that NAND flash memory—the storage technology used in solid-state drives—is becoming increasingly scarce as AI systems require larger file handling, longer prompts, and expanded data storage. Susquehanna analyst Mehdi Hosseini cited “growing confidence” that margins in computer memory can remain elevated for an extended period, with tight supply expected to persist through 2027.
Stellar Financial Performance
SanDisk’s fiscal third-quarter results provided the foundation for the bullish outlook. Revenue surged 251% year-over-year to $5.95 billion, with data-center revenue skyrocketing 645% to $1.47 billion. The company forecasts fourth-quarter revenue between $7.75 billion and $8.25 billion, with non-GAAP diluted earnings per share of $30 to $33.
CEO David Goeckeler has emphasized that the company’s transformation is more than a cyclical price spike. “The bane of this industry has been the boom-bust cycle,” he told Reuters. “We want consistent, predictable economics.” To that end, SanDisk has signed five long-term supply agreements, including three contracts worth a combined $42 billion in minimum revenue, backed by over $11 billion in financial guarantees. The longest of these deals extends to 2031.
Wall Street Rallies Behind SanDisk
Barclays analyst Tom O’Malley upgraded SanDisk to Overweight and raised his price target to $2,300 from $1,200, describing memory and storage as “the most attractive vertical below accelerators”—a reference to graphics processing units that power AI workloads. O’Malley noted that long-term agreements, price floors, and prepayments signal a structural shift in the sector. He called SanDisk “the most aggressive and structurally innovative in its contracting approach.”
Mizuho’s Vijay Rakesh increased his target to $1,825 from $1,625, maintaining an Outperform rating. Rakesh lifted his fiscal 2027 revenue estimate to $45.3 billion and noted that NAND demand shows no signs of slowing, with non-AI customers still undersupplied by 30% to 50%.
Broader Market Context
The rally extends beyond SanDisk. Micron (MU) briefly surpassed $1 trillion in market value last week as AI demand drove investors into memory suppliers. B. Riley Wealth strategist Art Hogan remarked that “the need for pure memory” has risen rapidly. Western Digital (WDC) and Seagate (STX) have also signaled strong enterprise storage demand tied to AI data centers.
An investor analysis on Seeking Alpha argued that SanDisk could continue rising even if NAND prices moderate, pointing to data-center growth, the Kioxia joint venture, and the company’s $6 billion buyback authorization. In January, SanDisk and Kioxia extended their Yokkaichi joint venture through 2034, with SanDisk agreeing to pay $1.165 billion for manufacturing services and continued supply availability.
Risks and Outlook
Despite the optimism, risks remain. A faster-than-expected cooling in NAND prices, weaker AI storage orders, or customers testing the terms of long-term contracts could undermine the bullish case. Barchart noted that many analyst targets still sit below SanDisk’s share price, leaving the debate less about whether the business has improved and more about whether the next leg can justify what investors have already paid.
SanDisk’s short history as a standalone public company adds another dimension. Created to hold Western Digital’s flash business after the separation, SanDisk shares were distributed to Western Digital stockholders in February 2025. This rally represents not just a memory-cycle story but one of the fastest repricings of a newly independent chip company in the U.S. market.
