SanDisk stock crash deepens: Why did SNDK fall 19% today, wiping out 36% in six trading days?

SanDisk stock: SanDisk shares (SNDK) dropped more than 19% on Thursday, extending a six session slide that has wiped out 36% of the stock’s value. SNDK stock fell despite the company's strong quarterly earnings and higher revenue forecast, as investors weigh growing competition in the memory chip industry and concerns about demand from technology companies.

The latest pressure comes as Chinese memory chipmaker ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) reports a sharp increase in customer prepayments for its DRAM chips. The company received $1 billion through the end of September, a 15.7-fold increase from the amount at the end of 2025, as per DigiTimes.

SanDisk Stock (SNDK) Falls as CXMT Expands Its Memory Chip Business

CXMT has been drawing attention after claiming it developed a new “4F square” memory chip, which it plans to market as high-bandwidth memory (HBM) for data centres.

Its latest customer prepayment figures add to the focus on its business. CXMT makes DRAM chips, while SanDisk is one of the world's leading producers of NAND flash memory used in PCs, mobile devices and increasingly AI data centres.

Qualcomm’s Handset Revenue Decline Adds to Memory Sector Pressure

SanDisk's losses have come amid a broader decline in semiconductor and memory stocks.

Qualcomm reported a 26% year-over-year drop in handset chip revenue to $5.14 billion, citing industry-wide memory dynamics affecting the smartphone market. Higher memory prices are increasing component costs for smartphone manufacturers, raising concerns about device affordability and potentially weaker demand.

Other companies in the sector also suffered losses on Thursday. Micron Technology shares fell about 13%, while Seagate Technology declined around 14%, according to Benzinga.

Democrats' victory in the US midterm elections have added to concerns about tighter regulation affecting AI infrastructure and data-centre expansion, putting further pressure on semiconductor stocks.

SNDK Share Price Declines Despite SanDisk Earnings Beat Estimates

The stock's fall comes despite SanDisk reporting strong fiscal first-quarter results for the period ended October 2.

Revenue reached $11.03 billion, up 23% from the previous quarter and 378% from a year earlier. It also topped analyst expectations of approximately $10.7 billion. Non GAAP earnings came in at $49.51 per share, above the consensus estimate of $46.67, while non-GAAP gross margin was 85.1%.

Data-centre revenue increased 61% quarter over quarter to $4.8 billion, accounting for approximately 44% of total revenue.

SanDisk expects second-quarter revenue of $12.2 billion to $12.6 billion. Its forecast also includes non-GAAP gross margins of 84.5% to 85.5% and adjusted earnings of $55 to $57 per share before the stock split.

SanDisk Stock Forecast: Analysts’ Price Targets Remain Divided

SanDisk carries a Buy consensus rating, with an average price target of $2,176.43, according to Benzinga.

Rosenblatt maintained its Buy rating and $2,400 target on October 30. Wells Fargo kept its Equal-Weight rating but lowered its price target to $1,300 on the same day. Fox Advisors downgraded the stock to Equal-Weight on November 2.

The longer-term earnings outlook remains positive in some forecasts. Normalized earnings per share are expected to more than triple to $227.80 in fiscal 2027, according to TIKR. Multiyear supply agreements could also help protect margins.

SanDisk-Linked ETFs Move in Opposite Directions

Thursday's sharp decline produced contrasting results for leveraged ETFs tied to SanDisk shares.

The Tradr 2X Short SNDK Daily ETF (SNDQ), which targets twice the inverse of the stock's daily performance, gained about 35%. Four leveraged long funds — Corgi SNDK 2x Daily ETF (SNDC), Leverage Shares 2X Long SNDK Daily ETF (SNDG), T-REX 2X Long SNDK Daily Target ETF (SNDU) and Tradr 2X Long SNDK Daily ETF (SNXX) — fell approximately 34%.

These ETFs are designed for short-term trading. Their daily leverage resets can cause returns over multiple sessions to differ significantly from twice the underlying stock's performance.

SanDisk Announces 8-for-1 Stock Split

SanDisk has announced an 8-for-1 stock split, with split-adjusted trading set to begin on November 20.

At a share price of $1,330, the theoretical post-split price would be $166.25. The split does not change the company's underlying valuation, earnings or the total value of an investor's holdings.