Sandisk (NASDAQ:SNDK) Shares Gap Down – Should You Sell?

Sandisk Corporation (NASDAQ:SNDK)’s share price gapped down prior to trading on Thursday. The stock had previously closed at $977.69, but opened at $887.40. Sandisk shares last traded at $908.4260, with a volume of 4,124,886 shares trading hands.

Sandisk News Summary

Investors following SNDK have been watching these news items:

• Neutral Sentiment: Sandisk’s planned 8-for-1 stock split is approaching, but a split changes the number of shares and per-share price—not the company’s underlying value. Article: What may happen after Sandisk’s stock split
• Negative Sentiment: Uncertainty over Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang weighed on AI-linked shares, raising concern that trouble in the AI trade could spread to memory-chip makers such as Sandisk. Article: Nvidia uncertainty weighs on memory stocks
• Negative Sentiment: Investors are also weighing NAND-market competition and questions about the durability of AI-driven demand. One report said Sandisk’s NAND market share had returned to 11%, while China’s YMTC had reached 14%, adding to concerns about competitive pressure. Article: Why Sandisk stock dropped

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on SNDK. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $2,400.00 price target on shares of Sandisk in a research report on Friday, October 30th. Bank of America restated a “buy” rating and issued a $2,000.00 price objective on shares of Sandisk in a report on Friday, October 30th. New Street Research set a $3,000.00 price objective on shares of Sandisk in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $3,000.00 target price (up from $1,700.00) on shares of Sandisk in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $2,000.00 target price on shares of Sandisk in a research report on Friday, August 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-two have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Sandisk currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $2,056.23.

Sandisk Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $134.23 billion, a PE ratio of 7.57, a P/E/G ratio of 0.07 and a beta of 5.66. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $1,467.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $1,271.20.

Sandisk’s stock is scheduled to split on the morning of Friday, November 20th. The 8-1 split was announced on Thursday, October 29th. The newly issued shares will be payable to shareholders after the market closes on Thursday, November 19th.

Sandisk (NASDAQ:SNDK) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 29th. The data storage provider reported $49.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $46.19 by $3.32. The company had revenue of $11.03 billion for the quarter. Sandisk had a return on equity of 125.70% and a net margin of 67.04%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.22 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Sandisk Corporation will post 226.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sandisk declared that its Board of Directors has approved 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 repurchase up to 6.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Alper Ilkbahar sold 4,712 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,540.58, for a total transaction of $7,259,212.96. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 44,134 shares in the company, valued at approximately $67,991,957.72. This represents a 9.65% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Luis Visoso sold 1,000 shares of the 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 sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 130,976 shares in the company, 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 90 days, insiders have sold 77,899 shares of company stock valued at $121,156,782. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Sandisk

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Intesa Sanpaolo Wealth Management lifted its holdings in Sandisk by 135.0% in the 3rd quarter. Intesa Sanpaolo Wealth Management now owns 531 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $924,000 after acquiring an additional 305 shares during the last quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Sandisk by 1,813.5% during the 3rd quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 41,006 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $71,254,000 after purchasing an additional 38,863 shares in the last quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Sandisk by 23.2% during the 3rd quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 2,000 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $3,480,000 after purchasing an additional 376 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. boosted its position in shares of Sandisk by 131.4% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. now owns 4,396 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $7,649,000 after purchasing an additional 2,496 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TIAA CREF Individual & Institutional Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Sandisk by 26.9% in the 3rd quarter. TIAA CREF Individual & Institutional Services LLC now owns 99 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $172,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the last quarter.

Sandisk Company Profile

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.