Sandisk (NASDAQ:SNDK) Given New $1,300.00 Price Target at Wells Fargo & Company

Key Points

• Wells Fargo lowered Sandisk’s price target to $1,300 from $1,550 while maintaining an “equal weight” rating, implying roughly 14.6% upside from the prior close. Analysts overall remain more positive, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and average target of $2,056.23.
• Sandisk shares fell 14.7% to $1,134.65 during Friday trading amid broader semiconductor-sector weakness, despite the stock’s strong recent performance and high valuation.
• The company exceeded quarterly expectations with $11.03 billion in revenue and $49.51 EPS, while revenue grew year over year and management authorized a $14 billion share-repurchase program.

Sandisk (NASDAQ:SNDK - Get Free Report) had its price objective dropped by analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $1,550.00 to $1,300.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an "equal weight" rating on the data storage provider's stock. Wells Fargo & Company's target price would suggest a potential upside of 14.57% from the stock's previous close.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on SNDK. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $1,400.00 price target (up from $1,000.00) on shares of Sandisk in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $2,000.00 price objective on shares of Sandisk in a report on Friday, August 14th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Sandisk from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 14th. UBS Group reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $1,750.00 price target on shares of Sandisk in a research note on Friday, August 14th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Sandisk in a report on Thursday, October 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $2,056.23.

Sandisk Trading Down 14.7%

Shares of NASDAQ:SNDK traded down $195.40 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $1,134.65. The stock had a trading volume of 13,086,940 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,770,029. The company has a market capitalization of $163.99 billion, a PE ratio of 15.46, a P/E/G ratio of 0.14 and a beta of 5.23. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $1,566.91 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $1,247.03. Sandisk has a 1 year low of $183.00 and a 1 year high of $2,354.39.

Sandisk (NASDAQ:SNDK - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The data storage provider reported $49.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 period in the prior year, the company earned $1.22 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 23.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Sandisk will post 210.92 EPS for the current year.

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

Insider Transactions at Sandisk

In other Sandisk news, CFO Luis Visoso sold 1,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 owned 130,976 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $205,479,078.08. This represents a 0.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO David Goeckeler sold 33,841 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,574.21, for a total value of $53,272,840.61. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 382,865 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $602,709,911.65. This represents a 8.12% 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. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 77,899 shares of company stock valued at $121,159,122. Company insiders own 0.29% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Sandisk

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. MFG Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Sandisk during the third quarter valued at $251,000. AIA Group Ltd raised its stake in Sandisk by 51.2% during the third quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 5,292 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $9,207,000 after purchasing an additional 1,792 shares during the period. Provenance Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Sandisk by 20,000.0% in the 3rd quarter. Provenance Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 201 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $350,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. RFG Holdings Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Sandisk by 39.1% in the 3rd quarter. RFG Holdings Inc. now owns 331 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $577,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Watershed Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Sandisk during the 3rd quarter valued at $419,000.

Sandisk News Summary

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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