Sandisk Corporation (Sandisk (SNDK)) shares are having a wobbly Wednesday, slipping as the broader chip sector cools off after a scorching Tuesday. The stock was down about 0.09% at $1,588.00 in afternoon trading, a modest pullback that looks more like profit-taking than panic.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq futures fell 0.36% and S&P 500 futures shed 0.15%, putting a lid on the semiconductor rally that sent Sandisk shares up over 10% just a day earlier. When the whole market takes a breather, even hot stocks tend to cool down.
But the bigger story here isn't Wednesday's blip — it's what's happening with memory chips. Morgan Stanley analyst Joseph Moore stirred things up on Tuesday, noting that data center memory shortages are sticking around. He's forecasting memory prices to jump at least 25% from the second quarter to the third quarter of 2026, and he thinks shortages could get even more severe in 2027 and 2028. That's the kind of supply-demand math that gets investors excited.
Over at SK Hynix (SK Hynix (SKHY)), Chairman Chey Tae-won has a slightly different take. He told reporters that AI-driven memory prices are "abnormally high" and argued the industry should focus on expanding supply rather than squeezing every last dollar from shortages. Chey predicted overall memory demand could rise 50% to 60% next year, with AI demand climbing 60% to 100%. That's a lot of chips.
Sandisk is set to report its fourth-quarter earnings on August 5. Analysts are looking for earnings per share of $33.38 and quarterly revenue of $8.24 billion. Those numbers will give a clearer picture of whether the memory boom is translating into real profits.
On the technical side, Sandisk is in a tricky spot. The stock is trading well below its 20-day and 50-day moving averages — 15.3% and 11.7% below, respectively — which suggests near-term bearishness. The Relative Strength Index (RSI) sits at 32.16, neutral but leaning toward oversold after dipping below 30 on July 15. Still, the 50-day SMA remains above the 200-day SMA, signaling a bullish long-term trend. And over the past 12 months, Sandisk shares have skyrocketed 3,667%, so the long-term story is hard to ignore.
For now, Wednesday's dip looks like a pause, not a reversal. With earnings on the horizon and memory prices poised to rise, the next few weeks could be telling.
