SanDisk Corporation (SNDK) experienced a sharp decline in premarket trading on Monday, with shares falling nearly 6% to touch $1,542.06. The drop came after the release of DeepSeek's V4.1 Flash model, which demonstrated a significant reduction in memory and storage requirements for AI workloads. This development raised concerns among investors about the long-term demand for NAND flash and other memory products, leading to a broad sell-off across the memory sector.
Peer companies also suffered: Micron fell around 5%, Western Digital and Seagate each dropped more than 4%, and SK Hynix fell over 7%. The uniformity of the declines indicates a sector-wide concern rather than a company-specific issue. SanDisk's high beta amplified its losses relative to some peers. The broader technology market was under pressure as well, with Nasdaq futures down 1.78% and S&P 500 futures off 0.79%, as investors reassessed AI infrastructure spending amid calls from tech executives to slow AI development over safety concerns.
From a technical standpoint, SanDisk traded about 3.5% below its 20-day simple moving average of $1,602.13 and just below its 100-day SMA of $1,555.75. The stock remained well above its 200-day SMA of $1,033.67, which is 49.6% below the current price, indicating a strong long-term uptrend. The Relative Strength Index (RSI) stood at 52.52, a neutral reading. Key support was identified near $1,416.50 and resistance near $1,696.50.
Analyst sentiment remained positive despite the sell-off. The consensus rating was a Buy with an average price target of $2,190.50. Mizuho maintained an Outperform rating with a trimmed target of $1,875, RBC Capital raised its target to $1,600 with a Sector Perform, and Wells Fargo increased its target to $1,550 with an Equal-Weight. A second source highlighted bearish chart patterns, including a double-top at $1,805 with a neckline at $1,415, and a rising wedge pattern that often leads to further downside. However, fundamentals remained strong: SanDisk's revenue in the June quarter jumped 372% to $9 billion, and annual revenue is expected to reach $48.9 billion this year. The company has secured long-term deals worth over $90 billion, and its forward price-to-earnings ratio is just 7, well below peers like Nvidia and Micron.
Despite the sharp decline, no major cryptocurrency was directly mentioned or impacted by this event. The news is primarily relevant to traditional tech and memory markets, though it may influence sentiment around AI-related tokens or mining hardware demand indirectly. The crypto market is largely unaffected in the short term.
