Is SanDisk Corporation (SNDK) A Buy Following Summit Research Analyst Upgrade?

How are hedge funds trading SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ:SNDK)?

Heading into the second quarter, a total of 40 hedge funds held long positions in this stock, a change of -31% from the previous quarter. There were many hedge fund managers who decided to get rid of this stock in the first quarter, whereas there were only a few others who remained bullish on this stock.

According to Insider Monkey’s database, as of March 31, the largest position in the stock was held by Iridian Asset Management, managed by David Cohen and Harold Levy, and consisted of 6.35 million shares valued at $404.1 million, comprising 3.4% of its 13F portfolio. The second-largest position in the stock was held by Kensico Capital, led by Michael Lowenstein, which owned 6.3 million shares valued at $399.1 million and accounting for 7.9% of its 13F portfolio. Remaining hedge funds that held long positions included D. E. Shaw’s D E Shaw, David Harding’s Winton Capital Management, and Andrew Feldstein and Stephen Siderow’s Blue Mountain Capital.

As expected, many hedge funds have sold out of their entire stakes in SanDisk Corporation. Leading the way is Rob Citrone‘s Discovery Capital Management which sold around 2.8 million shares, which were valued at $274.4 million at the end of the fourth quarter. Following Discovery Capital Management is John Griffin‘s fund, Blue Ridge Capital, which sold around 1.7 million shares, valued at $166.6 million. These transactions are important to note, as aggregate hedge fund interest fell by 18 funds at the end of the first quarter and aggregate hedge fund capital declined tremendously.

There were some big hedge fund names which opted to stay out of this stock in the first quarter. This shows a strongly negative hedge fund sentiment for SanDisk Corporation. With insider sentiment being slightly positive for this stock, and analysts wildly split on it, we feel the very negative hedge fund sentiment outweighs any other indicators and makes SanDisk a stock to avoid right now.

Disclosure: None