Core Insights - SanDisk (SNDK) stock surged 11.6% today, closing at $588.73, contributing to a remarkable 148.01% year-to-date gain in 2026, driven by AI-driven memory demand and a NAND shortage narrative [1][2] - Micron Technology (MU) and Western Digital (WDC) also experienced significant gains, with MU closing at $389.32 and WDC at $262.06, reflecting strong rebounds from previous selloffs [1][2] - Analysts have set ambitious price targets for these stocks, with SanDisk targets ranging from $750 to $1,000, and Bank of America raising Micron's target to $400, indicating strong market confidence in the sector [1][2] SanDisk (SNDK) - SanDisk's stock closed at $588.73, up 11.6% from $527.33, and has increased 1,054.37% over the past year from $51 [1] - The company's Q2 fiscal 2026 revenue reached $3.025 billion, a 61.3% year-over-year increase, with non-GAAP EPS of $6.20, significantly exceeding estimates [1] - Forward guidance for Q3 fiscal 2026 includes revenue expectations of $4.40 billion to $4.80 billion and non-GAAP EPS of $12.00 to $14.00, with gross margins projected at 65% to 67% [1] Micron Technology (MU) - Micron's stock closed at $389.32, up from $370.30, with a year-to-date increase of 36.41% and a 320.18% rise over the past year from $92.66 [1] - The company's Q1 fiscal 2026 revenue was $13.643 billion, a 56.6% year-over-year increase, with a GAAP gross margin of 56.0% [1] - Micron's free cash flow reached a record $3.91 billion, and Bank of America raised its price target for MU to $400, citing a robust pricing environment [1] Western Digital (WDC) - Western Digital's stock closed at $262.06, up from $245.25, with a year-to-date increase of 52.20% and a 531.09% rise over the past year from $41.53 [2] - The company is now focused solely on HDDs following the SanDisk spinoff, with 100% of its 2026 HDD capacity sold out, primarily driven by hyperscaler AI data center demand [2] - Analysts have set a consensus price target of $321 for WDC, with a high-confidence model target of $379, indicating strong market visibility and confidence in the company's future [2] Industry Overview - The memory and storage sector is experiencing a powerful narrative driven by AI demand, with significant gains across SNDK, MU, and WDC stocks suggesting that recent pullbacks were viewed as buying opportunities [1][2] - Analysts project continued strength in NAND prices and sustained hyperscaler spending on AI infrastructure, positioning these companies favorably in the market [2]

Industry Overview - The computer storage devices industry has experienced a downturn due to concerns over AI trade and geopolitical conflicts, leading to rising crude oil prices and inflation fears [2] - Despite the downturn, long-term growth is expected from AI, cloud computing, IoT, and other connected technologies [3] Company Insights: Western Digital Corp. (WDC) - WDC is benefiting from strong demand in cloud and AI sectors, with increased adoption of high-capacity HDDs [5][11] - The company anticipates a client refresh cycle driven by generative AI, boosting storage needs across various consumer devices [7] - WDC's fiscal third-quarter guidance includes non-GAAP revenues of $3.2 billion, a 40% year-over-year increase, and projected non-GAAP EPS of $2.30 [9] Company Insights: Seagate Technology Holdings plc (STX) - STX is also seeing strong demand driven by cloud and AI, with high-capacity nearline production booked through 2026 [13][14] - The company expects revenues of $2.9 billion for the fiscal third quarter, reflecting a 34% year-over-year improvement [19] - STX's strategic partnerships and advancements in aerial density are expected to sustain demand for their products [16][15] Company Insights: Sandisk Corp. (SNDK) - SNDK is capitalizing on the shift towards AI computing, which requires more NAND flash storage, leading to a 76% year-over-year increase in datacenter revenues [23][26] - The company projects third-quarter revenues between $4.4 billion and $4.8 billion, with gross margins expected to expand to 65-67% [27] - SNDK's expected revenue and earnings growth rates are 94.1% and over 100%, respectively, for the current year [28]

on 04-Mar-2026 4 March 2026 April Li +1 917 344 8339 april.li@bernsteinsg.com Global Memory MEMORY TRACKER (Feb): Price stayed robust despite CNY Mark Li +852 2123 2645 mark.li@bernsteinsg.com Mark C. Newman +1 212 845 7822 mark.newman@bernsteinsg.com Edward Hou, CFA +852 2123 2623 edward.hou@bernsteinsg.com Yipin Cai, CFA +852 2123 2669 yipin.cai@bernsteinsg.com Phoebe Sun +1 917 344 8481 phoebe.sun@bernsteinsg.com This monthly tracker (download dataset here) summarizes spot and contract price data release ...

on 04-Mar-2026 3 March 2026 U.S. IT Hardware April Li +1 917 344 8339 april.li@bernsteinsg.com Phoebe Sun +1 917 344 8481 phoebe.sun@bernsteinsg.com Last week we hosted meetings with several companies in the broader US IT Hardware plus Memory space including SNDK, STX, MU, PSTG, ANET, RGTI, LOGI. This note summarizes key findings. Sandisk (SNDK, Outperform) is working to optimize long-term profits and stability by locking in elevated pricing with LTAs. Management emphasized that demand visibility has improv ...

Core Insights - Despite concerns in the technology sector, particularly in software, certain stocks are performing exceptionally well in 2026, with significant gains driven by AI demand [1] Company Summaries SanDisk (SNDK) - SanDisk shares have surged nearly 140% in 2026, reflecting strong performance amid the AI boom [2] - The demand for storage driven by AI is increasing, with NAND prices rising rapidly as AI data centers and cloud providers require more high-speed storage [3] - Recent quarterly revenue reached $2.3 billion, marking a 22% year-over-year increase [3] Western Digital (WDC) - Western Digital has also shown impressive performance, being one of the top S&P 500 stocks in 2025 and continuing its strong trajectory in 2026 [6] - The stock has increased over 50% this year, supported by favorable quarterly results and significant opportunities in AI-driven data workloads [7] - Western Digital holds approximately a 20% stake in SanDisk, indicating a strategic relationship between the two companies [8] Teradyne (TER) - Teradyne specializes in manufacturing testing equipment for chips, with a focus on AI data centers and complex chips, leading to increased demand for testing [9] - The stock has appreciated by 60% in 2026, outperforming the broader Zacks Technology sector, which has remained flat year-to-date [10] - Teradyne's EPS outlook is strong, maintaining a Zacks Rank 1 (Strong Buy) [10]

The rapid expansion of AI infrastructure is consuming a significant share of the available supply of NAND flash memory, DRAM, and hard drives. AI computing demands vast amounts of data at every stage of the process, with different types of storage serving different tasks. Sandisk’s storage chips are faster but more costly than hard drives, making them crucial for performance-critical workloads where minimizing bottlenecks is essential. Moreover, Nvidia’s next-generation AI servers will feature a significant ...

Key Takeaways Sandisk benefits from rising AI infrastructure demand and growing enterprise SSD adoption.SNDK expects fiscal Q3 revenues between $4.4B and $4.8B with gross margins of 65%-67%.The Zacks Consensus Estimate pegs SNDK's fiscal third-quarter revenues at $4B with EPS expected at $7.79.Sandisk (SNDK) currently trades at a forward 12-month price-to-earnings multiple of 15.83x, below the Zacks Computer-Storage Devices industry average of 17.03x and at a significant discount to the broader Computer and ...

Few stocks on Wall Street have delivered gains as staggering as SanDisk Corporation (SNDK) in recent months. Since re-emerging as an independent company after its separation from Western Digital Corporation (WDC) in 2025, the flash-memory specialist has become one of the market’s most explosive artificial intelligence (AI)  infrastructure plays. Fueled by surging demand for NAND flash memory used in data centers, enterprise SSDs, and AI workloads, the stock has skyrocketed 858.5% over just six months, turn ...

Core Viewpoint - The demand for AI data centers is driving a significant increase in DRAM and NAND storage prices, with major companies like Micron Technology (MU.US) and SanDisk (SNDK.US) becoming focal points for global investors as their stock prices surged nearly 6% in a single day [1][4]. Group 1: Price Predictions and Market Dynamics - BNP Paribas forecasts a 90% quarter-over-quarter increase in DRAM contract prices in Q1 2026, while NAND prices are expected to rise by 55% [3]. - TrendForce has revised its Q1 2026 DRAM contract price forecast from a 55%-60% increase to 90%-95%, and NAND prices are expected to increase by 55%-60% [3]. - The rapid price increases are attributed to a growing demand for enterprise SSDs from North American cloud computing companies, indicating a supply-demand imbalance in the storage chip market [3][4]. Group 2: Current Market Trends - February's spot prices showed a significant increase, with consumer-grade DDR4 spot prices rising 11% month-over-month to $21.93/GB, while contract prices increased by 7% to $12.17/GB, indicating an 80% premium for spot prices over contract prices [5]. - Samsung has reportedly raised DRAM prices by over 100% after negotiations with major clients, reflecting a tightening supply and increasing demand [5]. Group 3: Storage's Role in AI Infrastructure - Storage chips are positioned as critical components in the AI wave, benefiting from both training and inference expansions, and are essential for the performance of AI systems like Google’s TPU and NVIDIA’s GPU clusters [7][8]. - The storage market is experiencing a shift from annual to quarterly contracts, and even monthly adjustments, due to the severe supply-demand imbalance [6]. Group 4: Future Price Outlook - Citigroup analysts predict a dramatic increase in storage prices by 2026, with DRAM prices expected to rise by 88% and NAND prices by 74%, driven by the demand from AI applications [10][11]. - The average selling price (ASP) for server DRAM is projected to increase by 144% year-over-year, with specific products like the 64GB DDR5 RDIMM expected to reach $620 in Q1 2026 [11].

Group 1: Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology Sector - Four Seasons Pharmaceutical (00460) saw a stock increase of 3.7% after receiving approval from the NMPA for its innovative drug, Pyrocilin Tablets, for treating HR+/HER2- advanced breast cancer [1] - Hengrui Medicine (01276) rose over 5% following the approval of a clinical trial for HRS-1780 Tablets aimed at treating primary hyperaldosteronism [3] - Mirxes-B (02629) experienced a stock surge of 10.86% after announcing a strategic partnership with Apollo Health to develop advanced cancer early detection solutions in India [3] - Cornerstone Pharmaceuticals-B (02616) increased by 12.37% after receiving FDA approval for its IND application for CS2009, a tri-specific antibody for advanced solid tumors [4] - Deciphera Pharmaceuticals-B (06996) rose 16.77% after signing an agreement with U.S. Biotech for the global development and commercialization of ATG-201, a dual-specific T-cell engager [5] Group 2: Automotive Sector - Automotive stocks showed a collective rebound, with XPeng Motors-W (09868) up 3.14% and NIO-SW (09866) up 3.43%, driven by news of BYD's upcoming launch of its second-generation blade battery and fast-charging technology [2] Group 3: Technology and Communication Sector - Optical communication stocks rallied, with Cambridge Technology (06166) up 8.7% after NVIDIA announced a $40 billion investment in optical technology through partnerships with Lumentum and Coherent [1] - Brain-computer interface stocks surged, with Nanjing Panda Electronics (00553) increasing by 24.64% following government reports emphasizing the development of future industries, including brain-computer interfaces [2] Group 4: Cryptocurrency Sector - Cryptocurrency-related stocks rebounded, with Okex Cloud Chain (01499) rising 15.89% as Bitcoin surpassed $72,000, driven by short-covering amid geopolitical concerns [5][6]