Sandisk, Western Digital Fall 10% as AI Trade Cools
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- Sandisk (SNDK) and Western Digital (WDC) fell roughly 10% in pre-market trading Thursday despite both reporting quarterly beats, with the sell-off driven by guidance missing elevated expectations
- Sandisk posted record Q4 revenue of $8.97 billion and non-GAAP EPS of $39.25, but its Q1 revenue outlook of $10.7 billion fell short of the $11.2 billion analyst estimate
- Western Digital reported Q4 revenue of $3.75 billion, up 44% year-over-year, with gross margin surging to 54.4%, though the stock still trades about 50% below its all-time high after a 550%+ 12-month run
- Sandisk has gained more than 3,000% over the past 12 months on AI storage demand, and its board approved an additional $14 billion share buyback, bringing total authorization to $15.5 billion
- Gold has risen more than 7% over recent days while bitcoin holds above $64,000 and shrugged off the Coldcard exploit, which the article frames as a potential rotation signal away from AI and into crypto
- Binance is identified in the article as crypto's leading exchange, expanding from spot and derivatives into real-world assets, payments, savings, and yield products
Why it matters: Investors who rode a 3,000% AI storage rally are now hitting exit on the first sign of guidance fatigue, and that same pool of capital is the buyers crypto bulls have been waiting for. With bitcoin holding $64,000 and gold already up 7% in days, the rotation narrative has at least a short-term tailwind — but Sandisk's soft $10.7B Q1 guide confirms margin expectations outran reality, which is what triggers the rotation in the first place.
