Rosenblatt Securities analyst Kevin Cassidy began covering SanDisk with a Buy rating and a $2,400 price target, citing AI inference workloads that are converting NAND flash from a commodity into critical computing infrastructure. The call leans on New Business Model agreements with eight major NAND customers covering roughly 65% of fiscal 2028 production, plus the BiCS8 and BiCS10 density roadmap. SanDisk traded at $1,405.65, implying about 71% upside to the target.
A first-time Buy rating and a $2,400 price target landed on SanDisk Corp. Tuesday, as Rosenblatt Securities argued that AI inference workloads have turned NAND flash into critical computing infrastructure rather than a cyclical commodity part.
"AI models are becoming more complex and inference workloads are generating more data, which creates a larger opportunity for NAND flash," Kevin Cassidy, the Rosenblatt analyst who wrote the initiation, said. The thesis widens NAND's addressable demand beyond the cellphones, PCs and consumer gadgets that have historically set the pricing cycle.
Cassidy carries a 59.2% success rate and a 39.0% average return over the past year, according to TipRanks data. Rosenblatt did not publish a prior rating or target for SanDisk, making the call a first-time coverage decision rather than a revision. SanDisk shares traded at $1,405.65, down 1.41% on the session, implying roughly 71% upside to the new target.
The bull case rests on two company-specific levers. SanDisk has secured New Business Model agreements with eight of its largest NAND customers, which Cassidy estimates could cover close to 65% of fiscal 2028 production. Those contracts give the company earlier visibility into demand and reduce the volume and price swings that have defined the NAND market for a decade. The second lever is the technology roadmap: BiCS8 and BiCS10, successive generations of the company's 3D NAND architecture, are designed to raise storage density while holding down cost per bit.
Management has set a longer-term target of mid-to-high teens sales growth and roughly 80% non-GAAP gross margins. Those figures sit well above the trough margins NAND makers recorded during the 2022-2023 inventory correction, when oversupply pushed several producers to operating losses.
The read-through extends past SanDisk. If the market accepts that flash is now AI infrastructure rather than a cyclical commodity, the same multiple expansion applies to Micron Technology, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, the three largest NAND producers, along with the storage controllers and enterprise SSD suppliers that sit downstream of them. Memory and storage equities have already drawn heavier positioning this year as hyperscaler capital spending plans climbed.
The next test is whether AI-driven storage demand shows up in actual NAND contract prices and wafer-start commitments. SanDisk's quarterly results and the monthly NAND contract price prints from TrendForce will be the first places that shows up. A target implying 71% upside from the current price leaves the stock exposed to any downgrade or soft pricing data point.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
