WDC beat earnings on AI storage demand and raised its outlook and dividend, but the stock fell after hours despite strong growth, similar to what happened with its peer Sandisk.
SanDisk surged after Bernstein raised its price target to the highest level on Wall Street and sharply boosted earnings estimates, driven by strong NAND memory prices and AI demand.
Morgan Stanley analyst says the recent drop in memory stocks is a healthy pullback. Memory supply remains the key constraint for AI growth, with strong cash flow expected to drive Micron and other stocks higher.
Memory giants Sandisk, Micron, Seagate and Western Digital plunged after Google Research unveiled TurboQuant — an AI algorithm that slashes memory needs by 6x with zero accuracy loss.
Micron just completed a huge Taiwan factory buy and announced a second site by late 2026. Shares soared, lifting other memory stocks too.
Western Digital is selling about $3.1 billion worth of Sandisk shares at a discount to reduce debt before a tax deadline.
