Sandisk Shares Fall 5.58% to $1,325 in Thursday Premarket Trading

Sandisk Corp. (NASDAQ: SNDK) shares remained under pressure Thursday as investors weighed the upcoming earnings report, competition concerns involving China and profit-taking after the stock’s sharp rally in 2026. Weakness across AI-linked memory stocks also dampened sentiment. Investors are cautious about higher borrowing costs and whether AI infrastructure spending can be sustained.

Sandisk is due to report fiscal first-quarter results on Oct. 29, 2026. Analysts expect earnings per share of $46.22, compared with $1.22 a year earlier, and revenue of $10.64 billion versus $2.31 billion in the year-ago quarter. The company’s prior forecast was quarterly revenue of $10.3 billion to $10.8 billion and adjusted earnings of $44 to $46 per share.

With expectations high, investors are likely to focus on profit margins, pricing trends and demand for enterprise storage products used in AI data centers. Sandisk trades at a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.0. Analysts have a consensus Buy rating and an average price forecast of $2,303.57. On Oct.

6, Mizuho maintained an Outperform rating The analyst raised the price forecast to $2,050. Earlier, Rosenblatt began coverage with a Buy rating and a $2,400 forecast on Sept. 22. ### China's Memory Chip Advances Rattle Investors Reports that China's ChangXin Memory Technologies had progressed in developing next-generation DRAM chips and server-grade DDR5 memory have revived concerns about Chinese competition, prompting selling across memory stocks.

Sandisk mainly makes NAND flash memory for solid-state drives, while DRAM provides temporary memory for computing tasks. ChangXin's progress therefore poses less of a direct competitive threat to Sandisk than to DRAM manufacturers. Broader worries about future memory supply and pricing have nevertheless weighed on investor sentiment. ### Profit-Taking And AI Spending Concerns Add Pressure Sandisk's substantial gains in 2026 have encouraged investors to take profits ahead of earnings.

Rising Treasury yields and concerns about debt-funded expansion of AI infrastructure have also pressured technology stocks. Although AI data centers continue to With investors questioning whether strong pricing and profit margins can be sustained despite demand for high-capacity storage, potential weakness in consumer storage demand is an additional concern as Sandisk prepares to report results. Sandisk also has substantial weightings in several exchange-traded funds. The Schwab U.S.

Small-Cap ETF (NYSE: SCHA) has a 5.15% weighting, and the Invesco S&P 500 Pure Growth ETF (NYSE: RPG) has an 8.18% weighting. The First Trust U.S. Equity Opportunities ETF (NYSE: FPX) has a 6.86% weighting. Fund rebalancing and investor flows could amplify trading activity by affecting demand for Sandisk shares.

Despite the recent pullback, Sandisk remains above its long-term moving average, suggesting its broader upward trend is intact. Shares are 10.6% above the 200-day simple moving average (SMA) of $1,199.66, but 21.3% below the 20-day SMA of $1,685.97 and 16.6% below the 50-day SMA of $1,591.35. Those levels indicate sustained near-term selling pressure. Meanwhile, the moving average The moving average convergence divergence (MACD) indicator remains below its signal line, and its negative histogram points to waning bullish momentum.

The broader trend is still constructive: the 20-day SMA is above the 50-day SMA, which is above the 200-day SMA. A stronger recovery would require buyers to lift the stock above its shorter-term moving averages. Resistance is near $1,446.50, with support around $1,325. Sandisk's 52-week range, from $120.96 to $2,354.39, underscores the stock's sharp price swings.

Sandisk shares dropped 5.58% to $1,325 in Thursday's premarket trading, according to Pro data.