SanDisk jumps 3,314% after spinoff as AI boosts NAND

SanDisk shares rose 3,314% over the past year after the company completed a tax-free spinoff from Western Digital and relisted on Nasdaq under the SNDK ticker on Feb. 24, 2025. Western Digital shareholders received one SanDisk share for every three Western Digital shares at the time of the separation. The stock moved from about $32.11 a year ago to more than $1,096, and it has climbed roughly 500% so far in 2026.

SanDisk reported fiscal third-quarter 2026 revenue of $5.95 billion, up about 251% year over year and 97% sequentially. Non-GAAP gross margin was 78.4%, compared with 22.5% a year earlier. Datacenter revenue reached $1.47 billion, an increase of 645% from the prior year. Non-GAAP earnings per share were $23.41, above consensus. The company guided fourth-quarter revenue to $7.75 billion–$8.25 billion and projected non-GAAP gross margins of 79%–81%.

Company and industry figures point to higher demand for NAND flash from AI infrastructure and on-device AI features while industry supply remained constrained. NAND flash prices rose about 60% in the first quarter of 2026 and were projected to increase another 70%–75% in the second quarter. Some industry forecasts expect supply to remain tight through 2028. Market research firms expect smartphone storage configurations to shift toward larger local memory by the end of 2026.

SanDisk reported several multiyear supply agreements with customers it classifies as higher-value, with more than $11 billion in financial guarantees. The company operates a joint venture with Kioxia in Japan and continues to develop its BiCS8 3D NAND architecture, which it says targets AI inference memory requirements.

SanDisk retired $650 million in long-term debt during the quarter, leaving no long-term debt on the books, and authorized a share repurchase program. The company was added to the Nasdaq-100 index in April.

CEO David Goeckeler described the results on the earnings call as “a fundamental inflection point for SanDisk.”

Analysts note that the stock’s trailing price-to-earnings ratio is about 41 times, compared with a five-year median near 15.7 times. Analysts also point to the memory market’s history of sharp cycles and say a rapid supply ramp or a slowdown in AI capital spending would affect NAND prices.

SanDisk was acquired by Western Digital in May 2016 for about $19 billion and operated as a division until the tax-free spinoff in February 2025, which restored the company as a standalone NAND flash supplier.