New York, April 13, 2026, 11:08 EDT
Sandisk surged 7.3% to $913.56 as of 10:53 a.m. EDT Monday, snapping higher after Nasdaq announced late Friday that the company is set to join the Nasdaq-100, replacing Atlassian once markets open on April 20.
More than 200 investment vehicles linked to the Nasdaq-100—together overseeing upwards of $600 billion—will feel the impact of this adjustment. Getting added to the index usually draws in new investors and ramps up trading activity. The decision lands as capital shifts toward AI hardware makers, while software names face renewed scrutiny over the pace at which AI could upend established business models.
Nasdaq maintains its current Nasdaq-100 methodology for this reshuffle, keeping things unchanged through April 30. This index tracks the top 100 non-financial firms listed on Nasdaq.
Sandisk joins the lineup after a sharp run-up, thanks to booming AI data center demand that’s stoked a renewed hunger for storage. In January, the company forecasted third-quarter revenue in a $4.4 billion to $4.8 billion range and put adjusted EPS at $12 to $14—both handily above LSEG’s estimates. AI-driven storage demand did the heavy lifting here.
Fresh highs on price targets: Mark Newman at Bernstein goes with $1,250. Cantor Fitzgerald’s C.J. Muse ratchets up his call to $1,000, flagging a supply-demand mismatch that he says may last through mid-2028. Newman tells MarketWatch there’s still upside, as NAND flash — key for SSDs — keeps outperforming on both pricing and profit.
It’s not just analysts making noise about demand. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang put it bluntly last month: “The storage system is going to get pounded.” Greg Matson, senior vice president at Solidigm, echoed that, telling Reuters supply “is going to be tight” through 2030. Reuters also reports Western Digital, Seagate Technology, and Micron Technology are picking up momentum from the AI infrastructure rush. Reuters
Atlassian is on track to exit the index, hit as software names stumble again. Reuters reports the S&P 500 Software and Services Index has dropped 25.5% in 2026. Barron’s clocks Atlassian’s slide at 65% this year. “Software-specific concerns stemming from AI” have come roaring back, said Steve Sosnick, chief market analyst at Interactive Brokers. Reuters
Still, shifting gears offers no sure protection. Wall Street’s main indexes sagged Monday, pressured by a surge in oil after U.S.-Iran negotiations collapsed over the weekend. Investors face a tight window: Sandisk’s fiscal Q3 results land April 30, leaving little chance to gauge whether the AI-storage trade still has legs.
