Zacks Investment Ideas feature highlights: Sandisk and Western Digital

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – January 20, 2026 – Today, Zacks Investment Ideas feature highlights Sandisk Corp. SNDK and Western Digital WDC.

Sandisk (SNDK) Has Become the Hottest Tech Stock to Pursue in 2026

In only 11 trading days so far this year, Sandisk Corp. stock is already up a blazing +70% to over $400 a share, making the clear argument for the hottest tech stock to pursue in 2026.

To that point, Sandisk’s explosive rally isn’t coming out of nowhere but instead is the result of a scarcity in the memory chip market, specifically for non-volatile flash memory referred to as NAND.

Being a major NAND producer, Sandisk is directly benefiting from this scarcity as AI infrastructure requires enormous amounts of high-performance flash storage and is pushing NAND prices higher with companies racing to build out AI capacity.

Sandisk Performance Overview

Notably, Sandisk was spun off from Western Digital to split its business into two focused, independent companies — one for hard-disk drives (HDDs) and one for flash memory. The flash business became Sandisk Corporation after a strategic review from Western Digital concluded that its HDD and flash/NAND divisions had different markets, growth profiles, and capital needs.

AI infrastructure demand for enterprise HDD has been off the charts as well, but there has been a broader industry-wide scarcity for NAND, which has catapulted Sandisk stock over +700% since becoming its own publicly traded company in February 2025, with Western Digital shares up more than +300% during this period.

How NAND Works

Aforementioned, NAND is a type of non-volatile flash memory, meaning it keeps data even when the power is off, and is considered the foundation of most modern storage devices.

As a storage technology, NAND flash is used in SSDs, USB drives, SD cards, smartphones, and tablets. It’s called “NAND” because its internal structure is based on the NOT-AND logic gate, which determines how data is stored in each memory cell.

NAND uses floating-gate transistors to trap electrons and represent data bits, and because it doesn’t need power to retain those electrons, it’s considered non-volatile. Furthermore, NAND is optimized for high density, fast speeds, durability, and low power consumption, which is why it dominates consumer storage.

Regarding the current AI and data-center boom, solid-state drives (SSDs) built on NAND are essential for feeding data to graphic processing units (GPUs) and other AI chips, accelerators, or servers.

Sandisk’s Robust Financial Figures

Sandisk is not a typical spinoff company, which tends to create value over time, but not immediately. While spinoffs can outperform, it's far from guaranteed, with Sandisk’s robust top and bottom lines being the exception, not the rule.

Based on Zacks estimates, Sandisk’s sales are expected to soar 42% in fiscal 2026 to $10.45 billion versus $7.36 billion last year. Plus, FY27 sales are projected to climb another 26% to $13.15 billion.

More impressive, annual earnings are expected to skyrocket 350% this year to $13.46 per share from EPS of $2.99 in 2025. Better still, FY27 EPS is forecasted to soar another 93% to a whopping $25.94.

Propelling the relentless rally in Sandisk stock is that FY26 and FY27 EPS revisions are up over 10% in the last 60 days and have now risen well over 100% in the last three months from estimates of $6.31 and $10.39, respectively.

SNDK is Still Fairly Valued

Considering Sandisk has a stronghold on a pivotal technology, SNDK is still trading at a reasonable 30X forward earnings multiple despite its unprecedented rally in the last year. This is not a noticeable stretch to the benchmark S&P 500 and is roughly on par with Western Digital and their Zacks Computer-Storage Devices Industry average of 29X forward earnings.

Bottom Line

Sandisk is certainly making the argument for the hottest tech stock to pursue in 2026, with SNDK currently boasting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) based on the blazing trend of rising EPS revisions. Although a sharp pullback would present a more ideal entry point, the accelerating demand for NAND suggests more upside, especially with Sandisk stock still being reasonably valued in terms of P/E.

Free: Instant Access to Zacks' Market-Crushing Strategies

Since 2000, our top stock-picking strategies have blown away the S&P's +7.7% average gain per year. Amazingly, they soared with average gains of +48.4%, +50.2% and +56.7% per year.

Today you can tap into those powerful strategies – and the high-potential stocks they uncover – free. No strings attached.

Get all the details here >>

Media Contact

Zacks Investment Research

800-767-3771 ext. 9339

[email protected]

https://www.zacks.com

Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.

Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report

This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

Zacks Investment Research