Skip to navigationSkip to main contentSkip to right columnADVERTISEMENTDave Kovaleski, The Motley FoolThu, September 17, 2026 at 8:20 PM GMT+2 4 min readTerms like "breakout stock," "going parabolic," and "meteoric rise" get tossed around a lot, but no stock represents those hyperbolic descriptions more than Sandisk (NASDAQ: SNDK).Let's just take a moment to look at the insane performance of Sandisk, which makes solid-state drives, NAND flash drives, and memory cards for data centers and artificial intelligence (AI) computing.Missed Nvidia in 2009? This Rare Signal Is Flashing Again. In 2009, a "Double Down" signal flashed for a little-known chipmaker called Nvidia. For the first time in years, that same "Total Conviction" signal is flashing for a company 1/100th the size of Nvidia. Continue »Sandisk had been a public company for years, known for the flash drive sticks you stick into your computer to store data. From 1995 to 2016, it traded on the Nasdaq until it was acquired by Western Digital. Sandisk stock was off the market until early 2025, when Western Digital spun it off as a standalone company again.Image source: Getty Images.It started trading at $35 per share on Feb. 13, 2025.As of Sept. 15, 2026, it's trading at $1,552 per share. That's a total return of 4,334% in about a year and a half. On an annualized basis, it's a 977% annualized return.If you were opportunistic enough to buy 100 shares of Sandisk at its market debut and invested $50 per month, that initial $3,500 investment would be worth about $131,000 today.That's a breakout stock that went parabolic on a meteoric rise -- and then some.Down 33% from its peakIf you caught lightning in a bottle and invested in Sandisk from the beginning, or even somewhere along the way amid its rise, you're probably quite pleased. But the question now is, what comes next?Over the past 12 months, Sandisk has returned a staggering 1,700%, trading at $1,552 per share.But the scary thing is that Sandisk stock is down about 33% from its peak, closing at $2,335 per share on June 25.So what should investors make of this? Is it time to cash out, or does Sandisk have some more fuel in the tank?Sandisk is actually cheapA stock that's up 1,700% in a year and trading at $1,552 per share is typically not one most investors would consider cheap. But that is actually the case with Sandisk after this 33% sell-off.Sandisk stock is trading at 22 times earnings and just 7 times forward earnings. Its 7x forward earnings valuation actually puts it into value-stock territory. That is a testament to Sandisk's massive earnings power, as it is in the middle of a supercycle for memory and storage stocks.In its most recent quarter, its fiscal fourth quarter, Sandisk saw revenue increase 51% from the previous quarter, not year over year, to $8.97 billion. Two-thirds of the revenue gains came from higher pricing, as the insatiable demand for its products has given it massive pricing power. For the full fiscal year, revenue was up 175% to $20.25 billion, with data center revenue rising 437% year over year.Terms and Privacy PolicyEU DSA contactPrivacy & Cookie SettingsMore Info