Few investors on Wall Street carry as much weight as Israel Englander. The billionaire investor, whose net worth is estimated at around $26.5 billion, built Millennium Management into one of the world’s largest hedge funds, overseeing over $87 billion in assets and thousands of employees across global markets.
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New trading tool for SNDK bullsThat kind of track record naturally makes investors take notice of where Englander is placing his bets today. And lately, memory stocks have emerged as one of the market’s hottest AI trades, as surging AI infrastructure spending has created massive demand for memory products and helped send valuations across parts of the sector skyrocketing over the past year.
Both Micron (NASDAQ:MU) and SanDisk (NASDAQ:SNDK) have been huge beneficiaries, but it looks like Englander currently favors one over the other, recently adding heavily to one position while reducing the stake in its counterpart.
So, let’s dig deeper into these AI memory stocks and find out what’s behind the billionaire investor’s latest moves.
Micron
We’ll start with Micron, a company that has traditionally had a quirky reputational problem. That’s not down to any wrongdoings at the firm, but directly related to the industry it operates in.
Micron produces computer memory and storage products, such as DRAM, a type of high-speed memory used for active computing tasks, HBM (high-bandwidth memory), a more advanced form of memory designed to deliver extremely fast data processing for AI workloads and graphics applications, and NAND flash, storage memory used to store data in devices such as smartphones, SSDs, and data centers.
But this is an industry known to be extremely cyclical and prone to boom-and-bust periods, where demand exceeds supply for a period before the trend reverses sharply. These kinds of dynamics have a huge impact on earnings and pricing power.
However, a shift appears to be underway. The rapid expansion of AI infrastructure has driven a surge in demand for high-bandwidth memory and advanced storage. This AI-led wave has pushed customer commitments to unprecedented levels, with Micron already signaling that its entire 2026 HBM supply is fully allocated. At the same time, constrained industry capacity has created a supply-demand imbalance that has sharply lifted memory pricing across the market.
These conditions have driven record sales, margins, and profits for Micron, fueling a strong rally in its share price, which, even after a recent pullback, has gained a huge 591% over the past year. The key question for investors now is whether AI has structurally transformed the memory industry, or whether this is another cyclical upswing, albeit on a much larger scale.
That remains to be seen, but it looks like Englander has faith in the company’s ability to continue performing strongly. During Q1, Englander’s Millennium bought 511,679 MU shares, increasing its stake by 47% to 1,142,295 shares. Those holdings are currently worth about $778 million.
Assessing the memory giant’s prospects, D.A. Davidson analyst Gil Luria thinks the market may still be underestimating the durability of current memory demand.
“We believe artificial intelligence is creating a longer-than-usual memory cycle as compute deployment and demand generation exist in a positive feedback loop, creating a structurally higher ceiling for memory pricing and demand,” Luria explained. “The market is still framing the cycle through the lens of prior downturns, which appears to underestimate the demand environment, especially relative to the rest of the semi complex. Combined with Micron’s node leadership and what we see as a long duration earnings power story, we see meaningful upside to shares.”
Conveying his confidence, Luria assigns MU shares a Buy rating, while his $1,000 price target offers 12-month upside of ~47%. (To watch Luria’s track record, click here)
27 other analysts join Luria in the bull camp, while an additional 3 Holds can’t detract from a Strong Buy consensus view. However, at $640.74, the average price target points to a one-year decline of 6%. Given this discrepancy, watch out for revisions shortly. (See Micron stock forecast)
SanDisk
Micron stock’s huge growth spurt looks mightily impressive, but when put next to SanDisk’s trajectory, amazingly, it looks rather feeble. Here we’re talking about a stock that has seen its share price offer truly life-changing returns over the past year – it is up by an improbable 3,337%.
The company has long been recognized as a leader in flash storage technology, producing products such as memory cards, USB flash drives, and solid-state drives for both consumer and enterprise use. It established itself as one of the most influential brands in portable and embedded storage before Western Digital acquired it in 2016.
SanDisk was spun out as an independent company in February last year, and since then, the shares have gone parabolic, driven largely by an AI-related shortage in NAND flash memory. Outsized demand for storage across data centers has tightened supply conditions, thereby strengthening SanDisk’s pricing power and feeding into strong profitability.
To get an idea of the kind of growth the company is seeing, a look at the recent fiscal third-quarter results will paint the picture. Revenue came in at $5.95 billion, up 252.1% year-over-year and ahead of expectations by $1.22 billion, while adjusted EPS reached $23.41, beating estimates by $8.75. Looking ahead, the company guided for FQ4 revenue of $7.75 billion to $8.25 billion vs. the $6.62 billion expected, alongside adj. EPS in the range between $30.00 and $33.00, way higher than the $23.38 consensus estimate.
That shows a company firing on all cylinders. However, during Q1, Englander’s Millennium sold 356,844 SNDK shares, thereby reducing its stake by 24%. Given the stock’s huge gains, it’s likely Englander thought it prudent to pocket some profits.
That is a stance that will make sense to RBC’s Srini Pajjuri, an analyst ranked among the top 1% on Wall Street, who thinks that despite the massive growth profile, its sustainability remains an unknown.
“As gross margins approach 80% levels, the key debate now is about the durability of current upcycle,” the 5-star analyst said. “Management announced 5 longer-term agreements with pricing/volume commitments (and $11b+ guarantees), which should help improve visibility and reduce cyclicality. However, we expect the stock to trade on traditional metrics until sustainability becomes more apparent, which could take time. At 7x FY27 EPS, we believe risk/reward is balanced given near-peak margins and moderating ASP growth even as we expect NAND tightness to persist through 2026,” Pajjuri opined.
Bottom line, Pajjuri rates SNDK shares as Sector Perform (i.e., Neutral), while his $1,000 price target implies the stock is overvalued by 25%. (To watch Pajjuri’s track record, click here)
Pajjuri, however, is among a minority on the Street. While 2 other analysts join him on the sidelines, with an additional 13 Buys, the stock claims a Strong Buy consensus view. Its $1,471.56 average price target suggests about 10% upside from current levels. (See SNDK stock forecast)
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the featured analysts. The content is intended to be used for informational purposes only. It is very important to do your own analysis before making any investment.