Ditch the Chips, Invest in Memory: The Shift of AI Funds Towards Storage Solutions
Written by Emily J. Thompson, Senior Investment Analyst
Updated: Jan 22 2026
0mins
Source: Marketbeat
Shift in Hardware Sector: The stock market has seen a significant shift towards hardware, particularly in AI-related components, with companies like SanDisk and Western Digital experiencing notable stock price increases due to rising demand for data storage solutions.
Supply Chain Dynamics: The semiconductor manufacturing industry is facing a supply shock, leading to increased prices and a focus on high-bandwidth memory (HBM) production, which is essential for AI applications, while standard memory chip production is being deprioritized.
Financial Performance: SanDisk is projected to achieve substantial revenue growth, with earnings per share expected to rise significantly, while Western Digital is streamlining its operations to focus on flash memory, enhancing its market position.
Investment Opportunities: Analysts recommend investing in memory stocks, particularly those that are well-positioned to benefit from the growing demand for data storage in AI and other high-tech applications, as the market continues to evolve.
Trade with 70% Backtested Accuracy
Stop guessing "Should I Buy WDC?" and start using high-conviction signals backed by rigorous historical data.
Sign up today to access powerful investing tools and make smarter, data-driven decisions.
Analyst Views on WDC
Wall Street analysts forecast WDC stock price to fall over the next 12 months. According to Wall Street analysts, the average 1-year price target for WDC is 189.74 USD with a low forecast of 135.00 USD and a high forecast of 250.00 USD. However, analyst price targets are subjective and often lag stock prices, so investors should focus on the objective reasons behind analyst rating changes, which better reflect the company's fundamentals.
19 Analyst Rating
15 Buy
4 Hold
0 Sell
Strong Buy
Current: 273.740
Low
135.00
Averages
189.74
High
250.00
Current: 273.740
Low
135.00
Averages
189.74
High
250.00
About WDC
Western Digital Corporation is a developer, manufacturer and provider of data storage devices and solutions. It delivers hard disk drives (HDD) solutions for everyone from students, gamers, and home offices to enterprises and public clouds. The Company manufactures, markets, and sells data storage devices and solutions in the United States and in foreign countries through its sales personnel, dealers, distributors, retailers, and subsidiaries. Its portfolio of technology and products addresses multiple end markets: Cloud, Client, and Consumer. Cloud is comprised primarily of products for public or private cloud environments and end customers. Through the Client end market, it provides its original equipment manufacturer (OEM) and channel customers a range of hard drive solutions across personal computer, mobile, gaming, automotive, virtual reality headsets, at-home entertainment, and industrial spaces. The Consumer end market offers a range of retail and other end-user products.
About the author
Emily J. Thompson
Emily J. Thompson, a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) with 12 years in investment research, graduated with honors from the Wharton School. Specializing in industrial and technology stocks, she provides in-depth analysis for Intellectia’s earnings and market brief reports.
Wall Street Rattled by Cisco's Cautious Outlook
- Cisco's Stock Plunge: Despite beating earnings and revenue expectations, Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) saw its shares drop over 11%, marking the worst single-day decline since May 2022, as investors expressed concerns over profit durability.
- Tech Sector Decline: The iShares Tech-Expanded Software Sector ETF (NYSE:IGV) fell 3.7%, revisiting lows from last week, indicating heightened sensitivity to AI disruption risks following Cisco's outlook.
- Small Caps Underperform: The Nasdaq 100 dropped 1.7%, while both the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 1.2%, with the Russell 2000 small-cap index sliding 2.4%, reflecting a cautious market sentiment.
- Increased Volatility: The VIX surged 16%, as investors rotated into defensive sectors, with utilities and consumer staples outperforming, highlighting a risk-off tone in the market.
See More
US Stock Market Volatility as Tech Stocks Weigh Down Indices
- Tech Stock Pressure: The S&P 500 index fell by 0.52% and the Nasdaq 100 index dropped by 1.08% due to weakness in the Magnificent Seven tech stocks, indicating investor concerns that could dampen market confidence.
- Cisco Profit Warning: Cisco Systems forecasted that rising memory chip prices would erode profitability, leading to a more than 10% drop in its stock price, which may prompt investors to revise down their future performance expectations, negatively impacting overall market sentiment.
- Employment Data Impact: Initial US jobless claims fell by 5,000 to 227,000, reflecting a slightly weaker labor market, which could influence the Federal Reserve's monetary policy decisions and lower market expectations for future rate cuts.
- Chip Demand Recovery: Sandisk's stock rose over 7% following Kioxia's forecast of strong demand for NAND memory chips, indicating growth potential in the AI infrastructure sector, which may create new investment opportunities for related companies.
See More
Crocs Shares Surge 21% on Strong Earnings Guidance
- Crocs Strong Guidance: Crocs shares surged 21% after the company projected adjusted earnings between $2.67 and $2.77 per share for the current quarter, exceeding the market expectation of $2.52, indicating resilience and growth potential in the current economic climate.
- Restaurant Brands Challenges: Despite reporting revenue and profit beats, Restaurant Brands' shares fell 6%, primarily due to rising costs, including beef, which pressured profits, reflecting the dual challenges of intensified industry competition and cost pressures.
- Cognex Stock Surge: Cognex shares jumped over 37% after reporting adjusted earnings and revenue beats for the fourth quarter, along with optimistic guidance for the current quarter, showcasing significant advancements in AI-enabled industrial machine vision technology.
- Equinix Exceeds Guidance: Equinix shares rose 12% after projecting adjusted EBITDA of $5.141 billion to $5.221 billion by 2026, surpassing analyst expectations, demonstrating strong growth potential in the digital infrastructure sector.
See More
Mixed U.S. Stock Market Performance with Tech Stocks Under Pressure
- Strong Chip Demand: Sandisk's stock surged over 8% following Kioxia's forecast of robust demand for NAND memory chips, indicating strong global demand for AI infrastructure, which boosts market confidence in tech stocks.
- Tech Stock Pressure: Cisco Systems' stock fell more than 9% as it warned that rising memory chip prices would erode profitability, limiting overall gains in tech stocks and reflecting cost pressures faced by the industry.
- Labor Market Data: U.S. initial jobless claims fell by 5,000 to 227,000, indicating a slightly weaker labor market than the expected 223,000, which may affect market expectations for future economic growth.
- Corporate Earnings Optimism: Over two-thirds of S&P 500 companies have reported earnings, with 78% exceeding expectations, and Q4 earnings growth is projected at 8.4%, providing support for the market and demonstrating corporate resilience.
See More
Western Digital's 970% Stock Surge: The AI Data Storage Revolution
- Stock Surge: Western Digital's stock skyrocketed from $28.83 in April 2025 to $307.50, marking a 970% increase driven by surging AI storage demand and margin expansion, underscoring the company's pivotal role in AI infrastructure.
- Strong Financial Performance: In fiscal Q2 2026, Western Digital reported revenue of $2.655 billion, shipping 215 exabytes of storage in a single quarter, with gross margins rising to 46.1%, and full-year revenue expected to double, exceeding $12 billion, indicating robust growth potential in the market.
- Technological Innovation: The company is developing HAMR technology, targeting 100TB hard drives by 2029, which is expected to significantly reduce the cost structure of AI storage, while new high-bandwidth drive technology will double sequential throughput, enhancing data center efficiency.
- Long-term Contracts Secured: Multi-year procurement agreements with top clients like AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud ensure stable revenue streams for the coming years, indicating that Western Digital has transformed from a traditional hardware supplier into a key infrastructure provider for AI data storage.
See More
Analysis of Major Premarket Trading Moves by Companies
- Restaurant Brands Performance: Restaurant Brands reported fourth-quarter earnings of $0.96 per share, exceeding expectations by $0.01, with revenue of $2.47 billion surpassing the $2.41 billion consensus, leading to a 1.3% stock increase, indicating strong financial performance and market confidence.
- Anheuser-Busch Growth: Anheuser-Busch's fourth-quarter earnings reached $0.95 per share, beating the $0.90 analyst estimate, with revenue of $15.56 billion exceeding the $14.95 billion consensus, resulting in a 2.6% stock rise, reflecting robust growth in a competitive beer market.
- Cisco Decline: Cisco's non-GAAP gross margin of 67.5% fell short of the 68.1% expectation, despite second-quarter results exceeding estimates, causing a stock drop of about 7%, highlighting market concerns over its profitability.
- Cloud Computing Surge: Fastly's stock surged 44% after reporting adjusted earnings of $0.12 per share and revenue of $172.6 million, both exceeding expectations, with full-year revenue guidance of $700 million to $720 million far surpassing the $668 million market estimate, showcasing strong demand and growth potential.
See More
Wall Street Rattled by Cisco's Cautious Outlook
- Cisco's Stock Plunge: Despite beating earnings and revenue expectations, Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) saw its shares drop over 11%, marking the worst single-day decline since May 2022, as investors expressed concerns over profit durability.
- Tech Sector Decline: The iShares Tech-Expanded Software Sector ETF (NYSE:IGV) fell 3.7%, revisiting lows from last week, indicating heightened sensitivity to AI disruption risks following Cisco's outlook.
- Small Caps Underperform: The Nasdaq 100 dropped 1.7%, while both the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 1.2%, with the Russell 2000 small-cap index sliding 2.4%, reflecting a cautious market sentiment.
- Increased Volatility: The VIX surged 16%, as investors rotated into defensive sectors, with utilities and consumer staples outperforming, highlighting a risk-off tone in the market.
See More
US Stock Market Volatility as Tech Stocks Weigh Down Indices
- Tech Stock Pressure: The S&P 500 index fell by 0.52% and the Nasdaq 100 index dropped by 1.08% due to weakness in the Magnificent Seven tech stocks, indicating investor concerns that could dampen market confidence.
- Cisco Profit Warning: Cisco Systems forecasted that rising memory chip prices would erode profitability, leading to a more than 10% drop in its stock price, which may prompt investors to revise down their future performance expectations, negatively impacting overall market sentiment.
- Employment Data Impact: Initial US jobless claims fell by 5,000 to 227,000, reflecting a slightly weaker labor market, which could influence the Federal Reserve's monetary policy decisions and lower market expectations for future rate cuts.
- Chip Demand Recovery: Sandisk's stock rose over 7% following Kioxia's forecast of strong demand for NAND memory chips, indicating growth potential in the AI infrastructure sector, which may create new investment opportunities for related companies.
See More
Crocs Shares Surge 21% on Strong Earnings Guidance
- Crocs Strong Guidance: Crocs shares surged 21% after the company projected adjusted earnings between $2.67 and $2.77 per share for the current quarter, exceeding the market expectation of $2.52, indicating resilience and growth potential in the current economic climate.
- Restaurant Brands Challenges: Despite reporting revenue and profit beats, Restaurant Brands' shares fell 6%, primarily due to rising costs, including beef, which pressured profits, reflecting the dual challenges of intensified industry competition and cost pressures.
- Cognex Stock Surge: Cognex shares jumped over 37% after reporting adjusted earnings and revenue beats for the fourth quarter, along with optimistic guidance for the current quarter, showcasing significant advancements in AI-enabled industrial machine vision technology.
- Equinix Exceeds Guidance: Equinix shares rose 12% after projecting adjusted EBITDA of $5.141 billion to $5.221 billion by 2026, surpassing analyst expectations, demonstrating strong growth potential in the digital infrastructure sector.
See More
Mixed U.S. Stock Market Performance with Tech Stocks Under Pressure
- Strong Chip Demand: Sandisk's stock surged over 8% following Kioxia's forecast of robust demand for NAND memory chips, indicating strong global demand for AI infrastructure, which boosts market confidence in tech stocks.
- Tech Stock Pressure: Cisco Systems' stock fell more than 9% as it warned that rising memory chip prices would erode profitability, limiting overall gains in tech stocks and reflecting cost pressures faced by the industry.
- Labor Market Data: U.S. initial jobless claims fell by 5,000 to 227,000, indicating a slightly weaker labor market than the expected 223,000, which may affect market expectations for future economic growth.
- Corporate Earnings Optimism: Over two-thirds of S&P 500 companies have reported earnings, with 78% exceeding expectations, and Q4 earnings growth is projected at 8.4%, providing support for the market and demonstrating corporate resilience.
See More
Western Digital's 970% Stock Surge: The AI Data Storage Revolution
- Stock Surge: Western Digital's stock skyrocketed from $28.83 in April 2025 to $307.50, marking a 970% increase driven by surging AI storage demand and margin expansion, underscoring the company's pivotal role in AI infrastructure.
- Strong Financial Performance: In fiscal Q2 2026, Western Digital reported revenue of $2.655 billion, shipping 215 exabytes of storage in a single quarter, with gross margins rising to 46.1%, and full-year revenue expected to double, exceeding $12 billion, indicating robust growth potential in the market.
- Technological Innovation: The company is developing HAMR technology, targeting 100TB hard drives by 2029, which is expected to significantly reduce the cost structure of AI storage, while new high-bandwidth drive technology will double sequential throughput, enhancing data center efficiency.
- Long-term Contracts Secured: Multi-year procurement agreements with top clients like AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud ensure stable revenue streams for the coming years, indicating that Western Digital has transformed from a traditional hardware supplier into a key infrastructure provider for AI data storage.
See More
Analysis of Major Premarket Trading Moves by Companies
- Restaurant Brands Performance: Restaurant Brands reported fourth-quarter earnings of $0.96 per share, exceeding expectations by $0.01, with revenue of $2.47 billion surpassing the $2.41 billion consensus, leading to a 1.3% stock increase, indicating strong financial performance and market confidence.
- Anheuser-Busch Growth: Anheuser-Busch's fourth-quarter earnings reached $0.95 per share, beating the $0.90 analyst estimate, with revenue of $15.56 billion exceeding the $14.95 billion consensus, resulting in a 2.6% stock rise, reflecting robust growth in a competitive beer market.
- Cisco Decline: Cisco's non-GAAP gross margin of 67.5% fell short of the 68.1% expectation, despite second-quarter results exceeding estimates, causing a stock drop of about 7%, highlighting market concerns over its profitability.
- Cloud Computing Surge: Fastly's stock surged 44% after reporting adjusted earnings of $0.12 per share and revenue of $172.6 million, both exceeding expectations, with full-year revenue guidance of $700 million to $720 million far surpassing the $668 million market estimate, showcasing strong demand and growth potential.
See More
