TLDR
- SanDisk stock climbed 9.5% Tuesday to $446.42, bringing year-to-date gains to 88% in just three weeks
- Citi analyst boosted price target from $280 to $490, maintaining Buy rating ahead of January 29 earnings
- Wall Street projects Q2 earnings will reach $3.32 per share, up from $1.23 in the same quarter last year
- The stock has gained over 1,100% since separating from Western Digital in February 2025
- Strong AI infrastructure spending and Nvidia’s Rubin chip platform are fueling demand for memory products
SanDisk stock jumped 9.5% Tuesday to close at $446.42, claiming the top spot in the S&P 500. After-hours trading pushed shares up another 1%.
The data storage specialist has gained 88% since the start of 2026. That performance makes it one of just two S&P 500 components to achieve that level in January.
Citi analyst Asiya Merchant sparked the latest rally with a price target increase. She lifted her target to $490 from $280 while maintaining her Buy rating.
The five-star-rated analyst keeps SanDisk on her short-term upside watch list. The company releases Q2 results on January 29.
Earnings Forecast Shows Triple-Digit Growth
Analysts expect Q2 earnings of $3.32 per share when results drop later this month. That figure represents a 170% increase from $1.23 in the prior-year period.
Revenue projections stand at $2.63 billion for the quarter. Management has reported unconstrained demand with growth rates in the mid-20% range.
Merchant’s upgrade reflects her outlook for the broader technology hardware sector. Data center spending by hyperscalers continues driving demand across multiple segments.
SanDisk benefits directly from this spending on storage infrastructure. Citi expects the tight supply and robust demand environment to last through 2027.
The company isn’t adjusting its supply plans despite market uncertainty. It’s focused on balancing immediate profitability with longer-term market positioning.
Nvidia Chip Launch Boosts Storage Demand
Nvidia’s Rubin chip has become a catalyst for memory stock gains. The new processor uses a storage architecture requiring additional flash components.
Nvidia presented the chip’s memory storage platform at the CES conference in early January. The design calls for more SSD capacity in AI systems.
“More SSD demand for these systems would imply even tighter supply than we have right now,” Morningstar analyst William Kerwin explained. That would boost pricing power for SanDisk.
The shift from AI training to inferencing workloads will sustain demand growth. Inferencing applies trained models to real-world data, requiring substantial storage capacity.
Record Run Creates Valuation Questions
SanDisk has soared over 1,100% since its spinoff from Western Digital last February. The separation has created one of the market’s most dramatic success stories.
According to Dow Jones Market Data, only Carvana posted comparable January gains. That stock rose 88% in January 2023, though it wasn’t in the S&P 500 then.
Wall Street maintains a Moderate Buy consensus rating on the stock. That breaks down to 11 Buy recommendations and four Hold ratings from recent months.
The average analyst price target sits at $357.53, about 20% below current trading levels. The gap shows how quickly the stock has outpaced Wall Street expectations.
Citi suggests other memory stocks might offer better upside now. The firm favors hard disk drive manufacturers Western Digital and Seagate Technology.
These stocks could benefit more from rising drive prices. However, SanDisk stays on Citi’s watch list as earnings approach.
The supply-demand balance supports continued margin expansion for SanDisk. Limited production capacity combined with AI infrastructure buildouts creates favorable pricing dynamics through 2027.
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