Earnings: SanDisk Misses Revenue Outlook Despite Strong Financial Results, Shares Drop Over 6% After Hours

SanDisk (SNDK-US) released its fiscal 2026 fourth-quarter results after market close on Wednesday (May 5), posting stronger-than-expected financial performance. However, the company's stock declined in after-hours trading due to its current-quarter revenue outlook falling short of market expectations, signaling that investors have even higher hopes for this memory giant.

F2027 Q1 Financial Guidance vs Analyst Estimates:

Revenue: $10.3–10.8 billion vs $10.82 billion

Non-GAAP EPS: $44–46 vs $44.72

Year-to-date, SanDisk’s stock has surged 469%, and over the past year, it has skyrocketed by 3,108%. Following such dramatic price appreciation, market scrutiny over both earnings and forward guidance has intensified. As a result, even an above-expectations quarterly performance was insufficient to satisfy elevated investor sentiment.

At the time of reporting, SanDisk’s stock was down 6.6% in after-hours trading. The stock had already dropped 5.4% during regular Wednesday trading, closing at $1,350.50 per share.

Key Earnings Figures – Q4 vs Analyst Estimates:

Adjusted EPS: $39.25 vs $34.96

Net Income: $6.9 billion

Revenue: $8.97 billion vs $8.48 billion

Full-Year FY2026:

Adjusted EPS: $73.76

Net Income: $11.43 billion

Revenue: $20.25 billion (up 175% year-over-year)

SanDisk’s Q4 revenue surged 3.7x year-over-year, jumping from $1.9 billion to $8.97 billion, surpassing analysts’ forecast of $8.48 billion. Adjusted earnings per share came in at $39.25, beating the estimated $34.96 and a mere $0.29 in the same period last year.

Soaring demand for key components like memory, driven by the artificial intelligence (AI) boom, far exceeds supply. Major cloud providers including Amazon (AMZN-US), Meta (META-US), and Alphabet (GOOGL-US) are investing hundreds of billions of dollars into data center construction, fueling demand for related hardware.

This supply-constrained environment has enabled hardware vendors to raise prices, becoming a major driver behind SanDisk’s recent explosive revenue growth.

Data center business revenue reached $2.98 billion in Q4, exceeding the market expectation of $2.74 billion and more than doubling compared to Q3.

CEO David Goeckeler stated, "SanDisk closed out the fiscal 2026 year with a leading technology product portfolio, positioning the data center as a core growth engine while further deepening collaboration with customers."

SanDisk also announced that since April, it has signed five additional agreements under its new business model, including three new customers and two expansions with existing clients.

Additionally, the board approved a new $14 billion share repurchase program, raising the company’s remaining authorized buyback capacity to $15.5 billion.