Wells Fargo Lifts Sandisk Target to $380 as Shares Jump 7.2%
Stanley Druckenmiller opened a Q3 2025 position in Sandisk, which has surged 1,050% since its February 2025 spinoff and now trades at 170× trailing earnings. Wells Fargo raised Sandisk’s price target from $230 to $380, sending shares up 7.2% on expectations of robust NAND pricing and hyperscaler demand.
1. Billionaire Druckenmiller Takes a Stake in Sandisk
In the third quarter of 2025, Stanley Druckenmiller initiated a new position in Sandisk, the flash memory specialist spun off from Western Digital in February 2025. Since the spinoff, Sandisk shares have surged roughly 1,050%, reflecting strong investor enthusiasm for NAND flash exposure. Druckenmiller’s move follows his sale of Broadcom stock, signaling a strategic pivot toward companies he believes will benefit most from AI-driven data center demand.
2. Sandisk’s Leadership in NAND Flash and Vertical Integration
Sandisk ranks as the fifth-largest NAND flash memory manufacturer globally, behind Samsung, SK Hynix, Kioxia and Micron. During the first half of 2025, management reported a one percentage point gain in market share. The company’s partnership with Kioxia underpins joint capital expenditures and R&D, while Sandisk’s fully integrated model—from process technology design and wafer fabrication to chip packaging and firmware development—enhances cost efficiency and supply-chain resilience. Two major hyperscale cloud providers are already testing Sandisk enterprise SSDs, with a third plus a leading storage OEM slated to begin trials in 2026.
3. High Growth Expectations and Elevated Valuation
Wall Street projects Sandisk’s adjusted earnings to increase at a compound annual growth rate near 79% through fiscal 2029, driven by robust SSD adoption in AI training and inference workloads. Despite this growth outlook, the stock trades at roughly 170 times expected earnings, a premium that reflects scarce pure-play NAND exposure. The median analyst target implies potential downside from current levels, underscoring investor caution around valuation even as revenue and EPS continue to exceed consensus forecasts.
4. Analyst Upgrades and Institutional Accumulation
In late 2025 and early 2026, multiple research firms raised target prices on Sandisk, with Wells Fargo lifting its target by more than 60% and Bank of America, Cantor Fitzgerald and Sanford C. Bernstein all upgrading their outlooks. Institutional investors have taken notice: Vanguard, State Street, Arrowstreet Capital, Bank of America and AQR Capital collectively established or increased positions in Sandisk during the third quarter of 2025, deploying billions in fresh capital. Insider transactions include a director’s sale that reduced her stake by 26.8%, highlighting mixed signals at the senior-management level.