Growth of 3.314% in Just One Year: Sandisk Exceeds All Expectations

A little over a year since its return to Nasdaq, Sandisk has become a case study for the financial sector. The SNDK stock price has risen from $32.11 to over $1,096, marking a 3.314% annual growth and nearly 500% just in 2026, a progression that has attracted the attention of investors and analysts.

Three key elements are at the root of this acceleration: the separation from Western Digital, the recovery of the NAND market after a significant crisis phase, and, of course, the global expansion of AI infrastructure that has generated an explosion in demand for storage solutions.

After the $19 billion acquisition completed in 2016 by Western Digital, Sandisk spent almost ten years within the group. However, on February 24, 2025, the tax-free distribution returned Sandisk to trading as a company focused solely on NAND flash memory. This new structure eliminated the burden of the hard disk business, allowing the company to focus on a sector which, at that moment, began to recover after the price collapse caused by oversupply.

The NAND market had indeed undergone a drastic contraction, with prices falling by up to 60%, but the situation changed rapidly. In the first quarter of 2026, NAND prices rose by 60%, while forecasts indicate further increases of 70% to 75% in the second quarter and limited availability until 2028.

The spread of artificial intelligence represents the main driver of this growth. Training models, inference in data centers, and AI on-device in smartphones and PCs require increasingly larger storage capacities. Heavier files, vast local models, 4K and 8K videos, high-resolution generative content, and advanced applications are increasing the demand for flash memory not only in the data center sphere.

Sandisk is in a favorable position thanks to its joint venture with Kioxia in Japan and a technology roadmap based on BiCS8 3D NAND, designed to address memory bottlenecks in AI systems.

The financial results for the third fiscal quarter of 2026 confirm this trajectory. Revenues reached $5.95 billion, with a 251% year-on-year growth, while the data center segment touched $1.47 billion, up by 645%. Even more significant is the expansion of the gross margin, which increased from 22.5% to 78.4% in twelve months, a rare figure for a business historically considered cyclical.

The non-GAAP earnings per share stood at $23.41, far exceeding general expectations that ranged at $14.66. For the fourth quarter, Sandisk expects revenues to be between $7.75 billion and $8.25 billion with gross margins between 79% and 81%.