Sandisk rival Micron beat on earnings and quadrupled its sales in Q3.
Both Micron and Sandisk are locking in high profit margins with long-term supply contracts.
Computer memory specialist Sandisk (NASDAQ: SNDK) stock surged 11.2% Thursday morning after archrival Micron (NASDAQ: MU) crushed analyst forecasts for its fiscal Q3 earnings.
Wall Street had expected Micron to earn $20.78 per share, adjusted for one-time items, on $35.8 billion in quarterly sales. Micron actually earned $25.11 per share, and its sales quadrupled year over year to $41.5 billion.
Missed Nvidia in 2009? This Rare Signal Is Flashing Again. In 2009, a "Double Down" signal flashed for a little-known chipmaker called Nvidia. For the first time in years, that same "Total Conviction" signal is flashing for a company 1/100th the size of Nvidia. Continue »
Image source: Getty Images.
Sandisk itself doesn't report earnings again for another couple of months, on Aug. 24. When it does, though, analysts are expecting big things, with earnings forecast to more than double sequentially to $33.72 per share. And here's the thing:
Sandisk's archrival just reported GAAP profits up 104% sequentially. Investors probably think that if Micron could do that in June, then with computer memory prices still rising, Sandisk can definitely do it, given two more months to work with!
I suspect the investors buying Sandisk stock on Micron's good news today are right in thinking this way, too.
In comments on its earnings, Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra confirmed that the artificial intelligence revolution is alive and well. Micron's "investing at record levels" to help meet customer demand, yet still able to command operating margins in excess of 80% on its products. What's more, as far out as he looks, and no matter how fast Micron builds capacity, Mehrotra still doesn't see supply catching up with demand anytime soon.
For that matter, even if supply does eventually meet demand, it may not make much difference for profits at Micron (or Sandisk), because Micron is locking in long-term prices at these high margins through Strategic Customer Agreements -- and so is Sandisk.
Long story short, the boom times for Sandisk aren't ending anytime soon, either.
Before you buy stock in Sandisk, consider this:
The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Sandisk wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.
Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $387,428!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,221,398!*
Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 895% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 205% for the S&P 500. Don't miss the latest top 10 list, available with Stock Advisor, and join an investing community built by individual investors for individual investors.
See the 10 stocks »
*Stock Advisor returns as of June 25, 2026.
Rich Smith has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Micron Technology. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.