SanDisk and Western Digital crush forecasts as AI demand fuels explosive data storage growth

Sandisk has thumping quarter on AI boom, secures long-term contracts and unveils big buyback

SAN FRANCISCO, April 30 (Reuters) - Memory chip maker Sandisk (SNDK.O), opens new tab on Thursday reported soaring revenue and profit while predicting another rosy quarter, adding it has signed long-term contracts worth at least $42 billion to help it counter any extreme price cycles. It also said it would embark on a $6 billion buyback. Sandisk has become one of the later beneficiaries of the artificial intelligence boom, with its main product - NAND storage memory - now in high demand as AI systems have started to work with large legal documents and computer code bases. But like its relative DRAM memory, NAND has long been subject to extreme price cycles as demand ebbs ⁠and flows. CEO David Goeckeler said the company has signed five long-term supply agreements with customers that range between one and five years in length. Three inked during the company's third quarter ended April 3 were worth $42 billion, while the other two were signed in the current quarter. "The bane of this industry has been the boom-bust cycle," Goeckeler told Reuters in an interview. "We want to get out of that. We want consistent, predictable economics." For the third quarter, revenue more than tripled to $5.95 billion, comfortably beating an LSEG consensus estimate of $4.70 billion. Adjusted profits came in at $23.41 per share, trouncing an estimate of $14.50 per share, and a huge turnaround from the same quarter a year ago when NAND memory was not used as much ⁠in AI data centers and it reported a loss of 30 cents a share. For the current quarter, Sandisk forecast sales of $7.75 billion to $8.25 billion and adjusted profits of $30 to $33 per share, both well above LSEG estimates of $6.49 billion and $22.70 per share. Goeckeler said that he understood some investor skepticism about long-term agreements in the memory business, which have been tried before and failed when customers renegotiated ⁠them amid slack demand. Sandisk has avoided those pitfalls, he said, by including a variety of terms such as price ceilings and floors, adjustments based on market demands but also clear terms that do not allow customers to walk away without paying. "Consistency is very important ⁠to me," Goeckeler said. "We put a financial structure in place that says at the beginning of the contract, if you make a financial commitment to me as the customer, if you walk away from a contract, I get that money." The ⁠buyback authorization was effective immediately but has no expiration date. Sandisk shares, which have risen more than 360% this year and were up 3% during regular trading hours on Thursday, rose about 1% immediately after the results in after-hours trading but reversed course to fall 6%. Reporting by Stephen Nellis in San Francisco; Editing by Edwina Gibbs Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab

Sandisk joins Western Digital, Seagate in signaling strong AI storage demand

April 30 (Reuters) - Sandisk (SNDK.O), opens new tab forecast quarterly revenue above estimates on Thursday, joining peers Western Digital (WDC.O), opens new tab and Seagate (STX.O), opens new tab in signaling that enterprise spending on data storage products used in artificial intelligence data centers remains strong. Sandisk shares, which have risen about 350% this year, fell over 6% in extended trading, following a sharp AI-driven rally in storage stocks earlier this week sparked by Seagate's strong forecast. Western Digital (WDC.O), opens new tab, whose shares have more than doubled this year, also slipped nearly 8% even as it forecast quarterly revenue ⁠above estimates. Western Digital and Sandisk's outlooks are "failing to provide the necessary 'wow factor' needed to sustain the breakneck momentum," Michael Ashley Schulman, Partner at Cerity Partners said, addressing the sell-off of the stocks. The explosive growth in generative AI, which requires massive computational power and storage, has boosted demand for the company's high-performance enterprise solid-state drives in data centers. AI systems require more data storage, driving demand for flash-memory chips faster than supply can keep up. This shortage allows Sandisk ⁠to charge higher prices. The company expects revenue of between $7.75 billion and $8.25 billion for the fourth quarter, compared with analysts' average estimate of $6.49 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG. It also expects adjusted profit between $30 and $33 per share, above estimates of $22.70. "This quarter marks a ⁠fundamental inflection point for Sandisk -- where our technology leadership is enabling a deliberate shift in our mix toward the highest-value end markets, led by Datacenter," CEO David Goeckeler ⁠said. Revenue in the company's Datacenter segment, which includes high-capacity flash memory storage solutions, more than tripled in the third quarter to $1.47 billion. It reported a ⁠97% rise in third-quarter revenue to $5.95 billion, beating estimates of $4.70 billion. Adjusted profit came in at $23.41 per share, compared with estimates of $14.54 per share. Reporting by Anhata Rooprai in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab

Western Digital forecasts quarterly revenue above estimates on AI storage demand

April 30 (Reuters) - Western Digital (WDC.O), opens new tab forecast quarterly revenue above Wall Street estimates on Thursday, expecting strong demand for data storage from artificial intelligence companies to fuel pricing power. Shares of the company, however, fell nearly 5% in extended trading. As of Thursday's close, Western Digital's shares had more than doubled this year, as Big Tech's heavy spending on AI infrastructure has created ⁠massive demand for its high-capacity hard disk drives. AI inference requires storage of massive amounts of data on higher-capacity drives. This demand-supply dynamic has given the company significant pricing power. It expects revenue of $3.65 billion for the fourth quarter, plus or minus $100 million, compared with analysts' average estimate of $3.46 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG. Since separating from its flash memory business in early 2025, now Sandisk (SNDK.O), opens new tab, ⁠Western has been able to focus entirely on the data center market. The company's strong free cash flow generation has also enabled aggressive capital returns. In February, it announced a ⁠new $4 billion share buyback program, on top of a previous $2 billion program. It reported a 45% rise in third-quarter revenue to $3.34 billion, beating estimates ⁠of $3.25 billion. Adjusted profit came in at $2.72 per share, compared with estimates of $2.39 apiece. Shares of data storage companies surged earlier ⁠this week after peer Seagate (STX.O), opens new tab forecast strong revenue and profit, signaling that enterprise spending will remain strong. Reporting by Anhata Rooprai in Bengaluru; Editing by Sahal Muhammed Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab

Western Digital and Sandisk crush Wall Street's expectations on soaring AI demand - SiliconANGLE

Western Digital and Sandisk crush Wall Street's expectations on soaring AI demand Western Digital Corp. and Sandisk Corp. delivered stellar earnings and revenue beats thanks to the skyrocketing price of memory chips and other compute infrastructure amid a global supply crunch. Both companies crushed Wall Street's expectations on earnings and revenue as the artificial intelligence boom continues to gobble up memory as fast as they can make it. Western Digital reported adjusted third-quarter earnings of $2.72 per share, up from just $1.36 per share a year ago and well above Wall Street's forecast of $2.39 per share. The company's revenue grew 45% from a year earlier to $3.34 billion, easily beating the analyst consensus estimate of $3.25 billion. Sandisk's results were even more explosive. The company delivered adjusted earnings of $23.41 per share, well ahead of the consensus view of $14.62 per share. Meanwhile its revenue soared by 251% from a year earlier to $5.95 billion, crushing the Street's $4.72 billion target. Looking to its fiscal fourth-quarter, Western Digital said it's expecting more of the same, with revenue likely to grow by between 36% and 44% to around $3.65 billion at the midpoint of its guidance range. It's also forecasting earnings of around $3.25 per share. In contrast, the Street is calling for a fourth-quarter profit of just $2.75 per share on $3.46 billion in sales. Western Digital Chief Executive Irving Tan said the demand drivers for his company are clear. "Virtiually every AI workload, from training, inference, agentic AI to physical AI, creates data that is stored persistently and cost-efficiently on HDDs," he said, referring to the company's hard-drive disk products. Data storage and memory supplier companies have been on a tear so far this year, thanks to the surging demand for their products triggered by the AI boom. Western Digital's stock is up 152% in the year to date, while Sandisk's shares have climbed 362%. Another storage firm, Seagate Technology Inc., is up 145% so far this year, while Micron Technology Inc. has risen 81%. On Tuesday, Seagate crushed the Street's expectations when it reported its own earnings results and issued strong guidance for the current quarter. That said, it seems that investors were either hoping for even stronger numbers, or else they were just wisely taking profits, for both Western Digital's and Sandisk's stocks declined in late trading today. Western Digital was down more than 6%, while Sandisk fell 4% after hours. This isn't the only blip these companies have faced. Earlier this week, a Wall Street Journal report came out that said OpenAI Group PBC had missed a number of growth targets relating to ChatGPT, triggering a brief selloff in companies related to the AI compute boom. However, they bounced back in the wake of Seagate's report. Sandisk CEO David Goeckeler told analysts he's confident that the good times are going to continue for his company for the foreseeable future. "This quarter marks a fundamental inflection point for Sandisk -- where our technology leadership is enabling a deliberate shift in our mix toward the highest-value end markets," he said. He added that the company is shifting to a new business model based on "multiyear customer engagements backed by firm financial commitments," and said this should enhance its earnings power. For the current quarter, Sandisk is guiding for sales of between $7.8 billion and $8.3 billion, well ahead of the Street's consensus model of $6.6 billion. Sandisk is one of the world's leading suppliers of both memory chips and high-speed flash storage, which are critical components in AI servers. Four companies - Amazon.com Inc., Alphabet Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Meta Platforms Inc. - have committed to spending over $700 billion on building AI data centers this year, and Sandisk is set to become one of the major beneficiaries of that largesse. Goeckeler said the company is racing to beef up its manufacturing capacity to try and meet the rising demand from AI customers, but he said most of its new production lines won't come online until the middle of next year. As a result, he expects memory and flash inventories to remain tight, likely driving further price increases.

Storage stocks jump as Seagate's upbeat forecast fuels confidence in AI spending

April 28 (Reuters) - Shares of storage companies jumped in extended trading on Tuesday, after strong revenue and profit forecasts from Seagate Technology (STX.O), opens new tab signaled that spending by enterprises on artificial intelligence equipment will remain strong. Seagate's strong forecast and the late-day surge in storage stocks underscore investors' confidence that enterprise AI spending will sustain demand for data-storage equipment despite broader market concerns about the pace of AI adoption. Companies have funneled increasing amounts of money into data drives, hard disks and other digital storage as they rushed to upgrade their artificial intelligence models and infrastructure. Shares of Seagate soared 16% in extended ⁠trading, while Western Digital (WDC.O), opens new tab jumped 10%, Micron Technology (MU.O), opens new tab climbed 3% and SanDisk (SNDK.O), opens new tab rose 4%, adding a combined $60 billion to the four storage technology companies' market value. "AI is amplifying demand across existing applications such as video, where large cloud providers are integrating AI in the platforms to boost user engagement and revenue opportunities, driving new video creation and the need to store it," said Seagate CEO Dave Mosley on a post-earnings conference call. Seagate forecast fourth-quarter revenue of $3.45 billion, plus or minus $100 million, beating estimates of $3.16 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG. Executives at Seagate ⁠and rival Western Digital have previously said their capacity has been fully allocated and sold out through calendar 2026. In Tuesday's trading session, the Nasdaq (.IXIC), opens new tab fell almost 1%, hurt by concerns about the AI boom after a report said OpenAI has fallen short of its goals for new users and revenue in recent ⁠months. Nasdaq futures rose 0.2% following Seagate's report, showing that traders expect tech stocks to partly rebound in Wednesday's session. The rise in storage demand also comes alongside a surge in memory prices, as power-hungry data ⁠centers use a significant portion of high-bandwidth memory to store and process massive amounts of information. The shortage of memory chips has left companies scrambling to find hardware that can aid ⁠their AI efforts and store data, benefiting companies such as Seagate that make physical hard drives. Ahead of Tuesday's report, Seagate shares had already more than doubled, year to date. Reporting by Zaheer Kachwala in Bengaluru; additional reporting by Noel Randewich; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab

Data Is a 'Strategic Asset' Now -- and Memory Stocks Just Can't Stop Flying

Get personalized, AI-powered answers built on 27+ years of trusted expertise. The AI crowd is getting fired up, and the headliners haven't even hit the stage yet. Investors on Wednesday sent pick-and-shovel AI plays soaring hours before the Big Tech Earningspalooza -- with results from Alphabet (GOOGL), Amazon (AMZN), Meta (META) and Microsoft (MSFT) -- is set to start. Shares of hard drive maker Seagate Technology (STX) surged after the company raised its outlook on AI-driven demand for its June-end quarter, lifting other companies in the category including Sandisk (SDK) and Western Digital (WDC). All three stocks extended their rallies, landing among the day's top S&P 500 gainers. Renewed appetites for the AI boom is on full display. Seagate and other data storage stocks have risen many times over, some as much as 3,000%, in the past year, and their stocks could continue rallying as tech giants report earnings and detail how much they stand to spend on developing their AI capabilities, giving more insight into revenue upside for the companies providing the hardware. Seagate guided investors toward current-quarter revenue in the range of $3.45 billion, give or take $100 million, representing a roughly 40% year-over-year rise at the midpoint, compared to consensus estimates for $3.13 billion, per analysts tracked by Visible Alpha. The company also forecast adjusted earnings per share of $5, plus or minus 20 cents, which was also above analyst expectations. "AI is reshaping data into a strategic asset," Seagate chief financial officer Gianluca Romano said during the company's earnings call Tuesday evening, according to a transcript provided by AlphaSense. Sandisk and Western Digital are due to report after the market's close on Thursday

Data-storage stocks jump as Seagate's upbeat forecast fuels confidence in AI spending

Shares of data-storage firms saw a significant jump. This follows strong revenue and profit forecasts from Seagate Technology. The outlook suggests enterprise spending on artificial intelligence equipment will continue. Companies are investing heavily in data drives and storage. This trend is expected to sustain demand for storage equipment. Seagate's forecast boosted investor confidence in the sector. Shares of data-storage companies jumped on Wednesday, a day after strong revenue and profit forecasts from Seagate Technology signaled that spending by enterprises on artificial intelligence equipment will remain strong. Seagate's strong forecast and the surge in storage stocks underscore investor confidence that enterprise AI spending will sustain demand for data-storage equipment despite broader market concerns about the pace of AI adoption. Companies have funneled ⁠increasing amounts ⁠of money into data drives, hard disks and other digital storage as they rushed to upgrade their artificial intelligence models and infrastructure. Shares of Seagate soared nearly 17%, while Western Digital jumped 9%, Micron Technology climbed about 4% and SanDisk rose nearly 8%. If gains hold, the four storage technology companies are set to add over $60 billion in combined market value. "AI is amplifying demand across existing applications such as video, where large cloud ⁠providers are integrating AI in the platforms to boost user engagement and revenue opportunities, driving new video creation and the need to store it," said Seagate ⁠CEO Dave Mosley on a post-earnings conference call. Analysts at Morningstar said the AI buildout is likely to give hard disk drive makers stronger pricing power through at least 2030, and potentially longer, which could further lift valuations. Seagate, whose shares have already more than doubled so far this year, forecast fourth-quarter revenue of $3.45 billion, plus or minus $100 million, beating estimates of $3.16 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG. Executives at Seagate and rival Western Digital have previously said their capacity has been fully allocated and sold out through calendar 2026. In Tuesday's trading session, the Nasdaq fell almost 1%, hurt by concerns about the AI boom after a report said ⁠OpenAI had fallen short of its goals for new users and revenue in recent months. The rise in storage demand also comes alongside a surge in memory prices, as power-hungry data centers use a significant portion of high-bandwidth memory to store and process massive amounts of information. The shortage of memory chips has left companies scrambling to find hardware that can aid their AI efforts and store data, benefiting companies such as Seagate that make physical hard drives.

SanDisk Surges 10% Past Record Highs After Locking In $42 Billion In AI Deals - SanDisk (NASDAQ:SNDK)

* SanDisk shares are testing new highs. Why are SNDK shares at highs? The move is also getting a tailwind from a risk-on tape, with Technology leading sectors higher. Management has been leaning harder on long-term supply agreements after a better-than-expected fiscal third-quarter 2026, including five deals, with the longest running up to five years. The CFO said three of those agreements imply minimum contractual revenue of about $42 billion, and the five deals together carry financial guarantees totaling more than $11 billion. SanDisk is emerging as a key AI-driven memory player, supported by its separation from Western Digital Corp (NASDAQ:WDC), and strengthening demand dynamics highlighted by both management and analysts. Spin-Off Creates Focused AI Positioning Western Digital CEO Irving Tan told CNBC that the split created two specialized companies, allowing SanDisk to focus on memory while Western Digital concentrates on storage. He added that this structure has improved execution and better positioned both businesses to serve accelerating demand driven by AI workloads. Tan noted that growth in AI training, inference and physical AI applications is increasing storage and memory requirements, reinforcing the strategic logic behind the separation. Strong Margins Signal Structural Upside Evercore ISI analyst Amit Daryanani told CNBC that SanDisk's results highlight strong fundamentals, including gross margins above 80%. He argued that the company has more structural margin upside than many peers, suggesting that profitability will improve as demand scales. Hyperscaler Deals, AI Demand Drive Outlook Daryanani pointed to SanDisk's growing engagements with hyperscalers, noting that firm financial commitments -- potentially including upfront payments and pricing floors -- could reduce cyclicality and support higher valuations. Daryanani added that rising AI inference demand is likely to benefit NAND, positioning SanDisk early in a longer-term growth cycle similar to those seen in the DRAM and HBM markets. Technical Analysis Today's rally is happening in a strong trend: the stock is trading 43.3% above its 20-day SMA, 77.7% above its 50-day SMA, and 283.6% above its 200-day SMA, with bullish 20-over-50 and 50-over-200 crossovers reinforcing the longer-term uptrend. With the price also above the prior 52-week high of $1,275.11, the chart is in "blue-sky" territory, where momentum can stay strong, but pullbacks can also be sharp. RSI is the cleanest momentum lens right now, and at 76.27, it's overbought -- meaning the move has become stretched to the upside and is more vulnerable to digestion or a fast shakeout. From a structure standpoint, the March swing low to April swing high sequence still frames the current uptrend, while the stock's RSI first pushed into overbought territory in May and has stayed hot since. Key Resistance: $1,376.67 -- Price is pressing fresh highs above the prior 52-week peak, so overhead supply is limited, but extensions can fade quickly Key Support: $960.91 -- 20-day SMA is the nearest widely watched trend line if momentum cools Earnings & Analyst Outlook Looking further out, the next major catalyst for the stock arrives with the Aug. 13 (estimated) earnings report. EPS Estimate: $31.51 (Up from 29 cents year-over-year) Revenue Estimate: $8.15 Billion (Up from $1.90 billion YoY) Valuation: P/E of 42.9x (Indicates premium valuation relative to peers) Analyst Consensus & Recent Actions: The stock carries a Buy rating with a consensus price target of $917.23. Recent analyst moves include: Bernstein: Outperform (Raises target to $1,700 on May 4) Citigroup: Buy (Raises target to $1,300 on May 1) RBC Capital: Sector Perform (Raises target to $1,000 on May 1) Price Action SNDK Stock Price Activity: SanDisk shares were up 10.28% at $1,382.34 at the time of publication on Tuesday, according to Benzinga Pro data. Image via Shutterstock This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors. Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs To add Benzinga News as your preferred source on Google, click here.

Jim Cramer Highlights Seagate's 'Smart Moment' -- How AI FAQs Reveal 'Gigantic Data' Needs And Strong Dema

The 'Smart Moment' And Agentic AI Following Seagate's latest earnings call, Cramer took to X to highlight a specific exchange regarding the future of AI data storage. "Smart moment on the Seagate call where they are asked to talk about use cases that use a lot of memory and can spiral into gigantic data sets: the process of FAQs," Cramer posted. He was referring to comments made by Mosely regarding the rise of Agentic AI. Mosley explained that AI-driven frequently asked questions are evolving from simple periodic queries into continuous, autonomous workflows. These intelligent agents "reference enormous data sets to draw your conclusion and you may actually create new data," driving an unprecedented need for mass capacity hard drives. Entering A Period Of 'Structural Growth' This AI-driven data explosion translated into a stellar financial quarter for the storage giant. Seagate reported quarterly revenue of $3.11 billion -- a 44% year-over-year increase -- and non-GAAP earnings per share of $4.10, comfortably beating Wall Street estimates. "We believe Seagate is entering a new era of structural growth as AI applications amplify data creation and support sustained storage demand," Mosley stated during the call. Reflecting this high conviction, management significantly raised its annual revenue growth target from the low-to-mid teens up to a minimum of 20% over the next few years. The company's profitability also reached record highs, generating $953 million in free cash flow. Cramer had earlier described STX's earnings as having an "insane beat" versus estimates. A High-Density Future To meet the market's accelerating needs, Seagate is aggressively scaling its high-density HAMR-based Mozaic platforms. With nearline capacity almost fully allocated through calendar 2027, the company is demonstrating immense pricing power. As the tech industry shifts toward heavy data retention for AI compliance and reasoning, Seagate's strategic focus on areal density ensures it will remain the backbone of this rapidly expanding "gigantic data" era. STX Stock Soars In 2026 STX stock has surged 110.26% year-to-date, while the Nasdaq Composite index advanced 6.15% over the same period. Furthermore, the stock was up by 159.65% in the last six months and 604.76% over the year. The stock closed Tuesday 2.82% lower at $579.03apiece. However, it was up 17.60% in premarket on Wednesday. Benzinga's Edge Stock Rankings indicate that STX maintains a strong price trend in the short, medium, and long terms, with a poor growth ranking. Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors. Image via Shutterstock Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs To add Benzinga News as your preferred source on Google, click here.

Sandisk has thumping quarter on AI boom, secures long-term contracts and unveils big buyback

SAN FRANCISCO, April 30 (Reuters) - Memory chip maker Sandisk on Thursday reported soaring revenue and profit while predicting another rosy quarter, adding it has signed long-term contracts worth at least $42 billion to help it counter any extreme price cycles. It also said it would embark on a $6 billion buyback. Sandisk has become one of the later beneficiaries of the artificial intelligence boom, with its main product - NAND storage memory - now in high demand as AI systems have started to work with large legal documents and computer code bases. But like its relative DRAM memory, NAND has long been subject to extreme price cycles as demand ebbs and flows. CEO David Goeckeler said the company has signed five long-term supply agreements with customers that range between one and five years in length. Three inked during the company's third quarter ended April 3 were worth $42 billion, while the other two were signed in the current quarter. "The bane of this industry has been the boom-bust cycle," Goeckeler told Reuters in an interview. "We want to get out of that. We want consistent, predictable economics." For the third quarter, revenue more than tripled to $5.95 billion, comfortably beating an LSEG consensus estimate of $4.70 billion. Adjusted profits came in at $23.41 per share, trouncing an estimate of $14.50 per share, and a huge turnaround from the same quarter a year ago when NAND memory was not used as much in AI data centers and it reported a loss of 30 cents a share. For the current quarter, Sandisk forecast sales of $7.75 billion to $8.25 billion and adjusted profits of $30 to $33 per share, both well above LSEG estimates of $6.49 billion and $22.70 per share. Goeckeler said that he understood some investor skepticism about long-term agreements in the memory business, which have been tried before and failed when customers renegotiated them amid slack demand. Sandisk has avoided those pitfalls, he said, by including a variety of terms such as price ceilings and floors, adjustments based on market demands but also clear terms that do not allow customers to walk away without paying. "Consistency is very important to me," Goeckeler said. "We put a financial structure in place that says at the beginning of the contract, if you make a financial commitment to me as the customer, if you walk away from a contract, I get that money." The buyback authorization was effective immediately but has no expiration date. Sandisk shares, which have risen more than 360% this year and were up 3% during regular trading hours on Thursday, rose about 1% immediately after the results in after-hours trading but reversed course to fall 6%. (Reporting by Stephen Nellis in San Francisco; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)

Sandisk joins Western Digital, Seagate in signaling strong AI storage demand

April 30 (Reuters) - Sandisk forecast quarterly revenue above estimates on Thursday, joining peers Western Digital and Seagate in signaling that enterprise spending on data storage products used in artificial intelligence data centers remains strong. Sandisk shares, which have risen about 350% this year, fell over 6% in extended trading, following a sharp AI-driven rally in storage stocks earlier this week sparked by Seagate's strong forecast. Western Digital, whose shares have more than doubled this year, also slipped nearly 8% even as it forecast quarterly revenue above estimates. Western Digital and Sandisk's outlooks are "failing to provide the necessary 'wow factor' needed to sustain the breakneck momentum," Michael Ashley Schulman, Partner at Cerity Partners said, addressing the sell-off of the stocks. The explosive growth in generative AI, which requires massive computational power and storage, has boosted demand for the company's high-performance enterprise solid-state drives in data centers. AI systems require more data storage, driving demand for flash-memory chips faster than supply can keep up. This shortage allows Sandisk to charge higher prices. The company expects revenue of between $7.75 billion and $8.25 billion for the fourth quarter, compared with analysts' average estimate of $6.49 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG. It also expects adjusted profit between $30 and $33 per share, above estimates of $22.70. "This quarter marks a fundamental inflection point for Sandisk -- where our technology leadership is enabling a deliberate shift in our mix toward the highest-value end markets, led by Datacenter," CEO David Goeckeler said. Revenue in the company's Datacenter segment, which includes high-capacity flash memory storage solutions, more than tripled in the third quarter to $1.47 billion. It reported a 97% rise in third-quarter revenue to $5.95 billion, beating estimates of $4.70 billion. Adjusted profit came in at $23.41 per share, compared with estimates of $14.54 per share. (Reporting by Anhata Rooprai in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid)

Western Digital forecasts quarterly revenue above estimates on AI storage demand

April 30 (Reuters) - Western Digital forecast quarterly revenue above Wall Street estimates on Thursday, expecting strong demand for data storage from artificial intelligence companies to fuel pricing power. Shares of the company, however, fell nearly 5% in extended trading. As of Thursday's close, Western Digital's shares had more than doubled this year, as Big Tech's heavy spending on AI infrastructure has created massive demand for its high-capacity hard disk drives. AI inference requires storage of massive amounts of data on higher-capacity drives. This demand-supply dynamic has given the company significant pricing power. It expects revenue of $3.65 billion for the fourth quarter, plus or minus $100 million, compared with analysts' average estimate of $3.46 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG. Since separating from its flash memory business in early 2025, now Sandisk, Western has been able to focus entirely on the data center market. The company's strong free cash flow generation has also enabled aggressive capital returns. In February, it announced a new $4 billion share buyback program, on top of a previous $2 billion program. It reported a 45% rise in third-quarter revenue to $3.34 billion, beating estimates of $3.25 billion. Adjusted profit came in at $2.72 per share, compared with estimates of $2.39 apiece. Shares of data storage companies surged earlier this week after peer Seagate forecast strong revenue and profit, signaling that enterprise spending will remain strong. (Reporting by Anhata Rooprai in Bengaluru; Editing by Sahal Muhammed)

Storage stocks jump as Seagate's upbeat forecast fuels confidence in AI spending

April 28 (Reuters) - Shares of storage companies jumped in extended trading on Tuesday, after strong revenue and profit forecasts from Seagate Technology signaled that spending by enterprises on artificial intelligence equipment will remain strong. Seagate's strong forecast and the late-day surge in storage stocks underscore investors' confidence that enterprise AI spending will sustain demand for data-storage equipment despite broader market concerns about the pace of AI adoption. Companies have funneled increasing amounts of money into data drives, hard disks and other digital storage as they rushed to upgrade their artificial intelligence models and infrastructure. Shares of Seagate soared 16% in extended trading, while Western Digital jumped 10%, Micron Technology climbed 3% and SanDisk rose 4%, adding a combined $60 billion to the four storage technology companies' market value. "AI is amplifying demand across existing applications such as video, where large cloud providers are integrating AI in the platforms to boost user engagement and revenue opportunities, driving new video creation and the need to store it," said Seagate CEO Dave Mosley on a post-earnings conference call. Seagate forecast fourth-quarter revenue of $3.45 billion, plus or minus $100 million, beating estimates of $3.16 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG. Executives at Seagate and rival Western Digital have previously said their capacity has been fully allocated and sold out through calendar 2026. In Tuesday's trading session, the Nasdaq fell almost 1%, hurt by concerns about the AI boom after a report said OpenAI has fallen short of its goals for new users and revenue in recent months. Nasdaq futures rose 0.2% following Seagate's report, showing that traders expect tech stocks to partly rebound in Wednesday's session. The rise in storage demand also comes alongside a surge in memory prices, as power-hungry data centers use a significant portion of high-bandwidth memory to store and process massive amounts of information. The shortage of memory chips has left companies scrambling to find hardware that can aid their AI efforts and store data, benefiting companies such as Seagate that make physical hard drives. Ahead of Tuesday's report, Seagate shares had already more than doubled, year to date. (Reporting by Zaheer Kachwala in Bengaluru; additional reporting by Noel Randewich; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)