SanDisk (SNDK) dropped between 4% and 5% on Tuesday after short-seller Citron Research publicly announced it was betting against the stock.
The sell-off came after a stunning run. SNDK had already climbed roughly 170–175% in 2026 alone and over 1,200% in the past twelve months.
After the trading session closed, the stock recovered slightly, gaining 0.24% in after-hours trading.
Citron’s short call was blunt. The firm posted on social media: “They don’t ring a bell at the top.”
The short-seller’s core argument is straightforward — SanDisk sells commodity NAND flash memory, not proprietary technology. Citron compared the market’s valuation of SNDK to how investors price Nvidia, then pushed back hard on that comparison.
“NVIDIA has a moat. SanDisk sells a commodity,” Citron wrote.
Much of Citron’s bear case revolves around Samsung. The firm called Samsung the “800-pound gorilla” in the memory market, one that has been running the same playbook for 30 years.
Samsung recently announced it won’t sell products under 50% margins and is pushing premium chips directly into the SSD market where SanDisk competes.
Citron pointed to historical cycles — 2008, 2012, and 2018 — where Samsung prioritized market share over margins, flooding supply and driving down prices across the industry.
The firm warned that current NAND production capacity is now roughly double what it was at the 2018 peak. In their words, the current shortage is “a supply mirage that can vanish in a single earnings call.”
Citron also flagged a move by Western Digital, SanDisk’s former parent company. WDC recently sold a large portion of its SNDK stake at prices roughly 25% below current market levels, using the proceeds to pay down debt.
Western Digital’s own stock fell 3.5% on the same day.
For Citron, that sale is a warning sign — insiders with deep knowledge of the business chose to exit at a steep discount rather than hold.
The NAND memory market is inherently cyclical. Prices rise during shortages and fall when supply catches up. Citron’s argument is that larger manufacturers like Samsung can scale output quickly, ending the current tight-supply environment faster than the market expects.
Wall Street analysts aren’t all convinced by the bear case. SNDK currently holds a Moderate Buy consensus, with 11 Buy ratings and 4 Hold ratings issued over the past three months.
Price targets range widely, from $235 on the low end to $1,000 at the top. The average target sits at $637.33 — essentially in line with where the stock was trading before the drop.
Many analysts still expect memory chip prices to stay firm for the next one to two years.
SNDK was trading above its average analyst price target heading into Tuesday’s session, a level that already implied minimal upside even before Citron’s announcement.
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