Why Is SanDisk Stock Rising Against the Trend on Friday?

SanDisk shares rose on Friday after dipping in early trading, when the semiconductor memory sector experienced a broader pullback due to profit-taking.

Nasdaq futures fell 0.26%, while S&P 500 futures were roughly flat.

• SanDisk shares are showing upward momentum. What is driving SNDK stock higher?

The early-session swing came after SanDisk shares rose on Thursday. That earlier gain followed a blowout quarterly report and positive guidance from AI bellwether Nvidia Corp., after which SanDisk shares reversed course.

Nvidia Cites Memory Cost Pressure

On Wednesday, Nvidia reported second-quarter revenue of $96 billion and projected roughly 70% revenue growth for fiscal 2028. However, Nvidia expects gross margin to decline from 75% in the second quarter to 71%–72% in the fourth quarter.

Nvidia CFO Colette Kress attributed the pressure to memory costs: "Price increases have been larger than we previously expected, and will continue to move higher into next year."

Nvidia noted that memory scarcity "is largely driven by AI buildout itself," impacting suppliers such as Micron Technology, SK Hynix, and Samsung Electronics.

Supply Constraints and Price Adjustments

Nvidia said demand will grow about 100% next year, but supply constraints will limit revenue growth to roughly 70%.

"Unconstrained, it would be much higher," said Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. Nvidia expects gross margins to recover in fiscal 2028 as higher product prices take effect to offset rising memory costs.

SanDisk and Kioxia Announce Capacity Expansion

Separately, on Thursday, SanDisk and Kioxia Corp. announced plans for a joint investment of over $31 billion in Japan by 2032, subject to Japanese government support.

"Our business strategy and financial framework support these planned investments, which will ensure we have the capacity to support our customers' growing demand," said SanDisk Chairman and CEO David Goeckeler.

Technical Analysis

From a trend perspective, SanDisk remains in a long-term uptrend, with shares trading roughly 50% above their 200-day simple moving average, but the intermediate-term trend has cooled. The stock also sits about 10% below its 50-day simple moving average, which typically acts as "overhead supply pressure" when a rally attempts to restart.

In the short term, the stock is just slightly above its 20-day simple moving average, indicating the stock is trying to stabilize rather than break down immediately. However, the 20-day simple moving average remains below the 50-day simple moving average, a common signal that recent momentum has weakened relative to the prior upswing.

The relative strength index is a clearer momentum indicator at this point: a reading of 48.97 sits in neutral territory, consistent with a stock that is digesting gains rather than trending strongly in either direction.

Key levels traders tend to anchor on:

Key resistance: $1,696.50

Key support: $1,325

SNDK price action: As of Friday's writing, SanDisk shares were up 0.70% at $1,495.31.