Royal Bank Of Canada Has Lowered Expectations for Sandisk (NASDAQ:SNDK) Stock Price

Key Points

• Royal Bank of Canada cut Sandisk’s price target from $1,600 to $1,400 while maintaining a “sector perform” rating, implying 23.29% upside from the prior close.
• Analyst views remain mixed, but the stock carries a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $2,065.85.
• Sandisk exceeded quarterly earnings expectations with $11.03 billion in revenue and $49.51 EPS, while AI-driven data-center demand and a $14 billion share-repurchase authorization support the growth outlook.

Sandisk (NASDAQ:SNDK - Get Free Report) had its price objective decreased by equities research analysts at Royal Bank Of Canada from $1,600.00 to $1,400.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a "sector perform" rating on the data storage provider's stock. Royal Bank Of Canada's target price points to a potential upside of 23.29% from the company's previous close.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Sandisk from $1,400.00 to $1,550.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $3,000.00 price target (up from $1,700.00) on shares of Sandisk in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Susquehanna reduced their price objective on Sandisk from $2,745.00 to $2,720.00 and set a "positive" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Bank of America reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $2,000.00 price objective on shares of Sandisk in a research note on Friday. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Sandisk from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-one have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $2,065.85.

Sandisk Price Performance

Shares of SNDK traded down $194.48 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $1,135.57. 9,563,053 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,753,030. The company has a market capitalization of $164.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.61, a PEG ratio of 0.14 and a beta of 5.23. The business's 50-day moving average price is $1,566.91 and its 200 day moving average price is $1,247.03. Sandisk has a twelve month low of $183.00 and a twelve month high of $2,354.39.

Sandisk (NASDAQ:SNDK - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The data storage provider reported $49.51 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $46.19 by $3.32. Sandisk had a net margin of 56.47% and a return on equity of 87.84%. The firm had revenue of $11.03 billion during the quarter. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.22 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 23.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Sandisk will post 210.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sandisk announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, August 5th that permits the company to repurchase $14 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the data storage provider to buy up to 6.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sandisk

In other Sandisk news, EVP Alper Ilkbahar sold 4,712 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,540.58, for a total value of $7,259,212.96. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 44,134 shares of the company's stock, valued at $67,991,957.72. This trade represents a 9.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at 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 dated Tuesday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,568.83, for a total transaction of $1,568,830.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 130,976 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $205,479,078.08. This trade represents 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 three months, insiders sold 77,899 shares of company stock valued at $121,159,122. 0.29% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Sandisk

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. acquired a new position in Sandisk in the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Atomic Invest LLC bought a new stake in Sandisk during the 2nd quarter worth $25,000. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC increased its position in Sandisk by 650.0% in the 3rd quarter. Hilton Head Capital Partners LLC now owns 15 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 13 shares during the period. IMG Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Sandisk in the 1st quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Dunhill Financial LLC acquired a new position in Sandisk in the second quarter valued at $30,000.

Key Sandisk News

Here are the key news stories impacting Sandisk this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Sandisk reported fiscal Q1 revenue of approximately $11.03 billion and diluted EPS of $49.51, exceeding Wall Street expectations. Revenue rose 378% year over year, while GAAP net income reached $8.1 billion. Sandisk Q1 earnings beat
• Positive Sentiment: AI-related demand remains a major growth driver: data-center revenue increased 61% sequentially to $4.8 billion, and management said customers are locking in supply through the end of the decade. Long-term agreements reportedly provide substantial revenue visibility. CEO discusses customer demand
• Positive Sentiment: Management issued stronger fiscal Q2 guidance, projecting revenue of $12.2 billion to $12.6 billion and non-GAAP diluted EPS of $55 to $57. Sandisk also repurchased about $5 billion of stock during the quarter. Sandisk guidance and stock split
• Positive Sentiment: The board approved an 8-for-1 forward stock split effective November 19, which may improve share accessibility, although it does not change the company’s underlying value. Susquehanna maintained a positive rating despite trimming its price target slightly. Susquehanna price target
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts remain divided: some view Sandisk as an attractive AI-infrastructure value play, while others argue that expectations already reflect much of the earnings improvement and that memory pricing may be approaching a peak. Analyst view on memory pricing
• Negative Sentiment: Sandisk was caught in a wider semiconductor sell-off following disappointing results from Amazon and Intel, while weakness in other memory stocks amplified sector pressure. Memory-stock sell-off
• Negative Sentiment: Investors are concerned that Sandisk’s sharply higher valuation leaves little room for execution disappointments, particularly if NAND pricing, margins or earnings growth slow. Valuation concerns
• Negative Sentiment: Growing competition from China’s ChangXin Memory Technologies adds a longer-term risk to Sandisk’s pricing power and market share, despite current supply shortages. CXMT revenue growth

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.

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