BlockBeats reported on Aug. 4 that U.S. chip stocks are heading into a key earnings stretch this week. Advanced Micro Devices, or AMD, is set to post second-quarter results after the close on Tuesday, Aug. 4, Eastern time. SanDisk and Western Digital are scheduled to release fiscal fourth-quarter and full-year results after the close on Wednesday, Aug. 5, Eastern time.
The importance of those three reports goes beyond any single company. After AI hardware stocks sold off sharply in July, the market is looking for evidence on whether the chip sector’s rebound has real support. Earnings last week from cloud companies including Microsoft and Amazon eased concerns over returns on AI capital spending, while moves in the memory supply chain, including Samsung and Micron, helped revive sentiment. In last Thursday’s rebound, Micron rose 18%, SanDisk climbed 26%, and Lam Research gained 18%, with chip names helping lift the broader market.
AMD: guidance matters more than the quarter itself
AMD is widely seen as the first major test. Investors are focused on two growth lines: EPYC server CPUs and AI accelerators.
Analysts expect AMD to post about $11.3 billion in second-quarter revenue, including around $6.5 billion from the data center segment, made up of about $4 billion in server chip revenue and $2.5 billion tied to AI. Adjusted earnings per share are expected at roughly $1.62. Investopedia, citing Visible Alpha data, said the market is looking for about $11.34 billion in second-quarter revenue, up 48% year over year, and adjusted EPS of $1.61, more than triple the level of a year earlier.
The real focus, though, is on guidance. Jefferies analyst Blayne Curtis is positive on AMD’s next-generation Venice server CPU and the Helios rack-scale AI system built on MI450 GPUs. OpenAI, Meta, Microsoft and Anthropic have been viewed by the market as potential sources of demand for Helios. Initial shipments could begin in the third quarter, but larger revenue contribution is expected only after the fourth quarter.
The options market is also pointing to a volatile setup. According to Investopedia, traders are pricing a move of about 10% in AMD shares after earnings this week. That suggests meeting consensus may not be enough on its own. The market wants to see continued upward revision in AI GPU orders, customer adoption progress and third-quarter guidance.
SanDisk: a high-beta earnings read for the storage trade
SanDisk is being treated as a high-beta name for storage-chain sentiment. The company will report fiscal fourth-quarter results after the close on Aug. 5 and hold an investor day on Aug. 13.
Benzinga data showed Wall Street expects SanDisk to deliver fiscal fourth-quarter EPS of $33.38 on revenue of $8.24 billion. The company had previously guided for revenue of $7.75 billion to $8.25 billion and EPS of $30 to $33. In other words, market expectations are already close to, or slightly above, the top end of management’s earlier range. That leaves little room for disappointment.
Zacks said SanDisk has beaten EPS estimates by an average of 68.29% over the past two quarters. Its current Earnings ESP stands at +4.13%, and Zacks rates the stock #1 Strong Buy, a sign that analysts still see room for another beat. But high expectations also tend to raise the odds of a bigger move either way.
Even though SanDisk remains in a longer-term uptrend, the stock has pulled back from recent highs and technical momentum has weakened. The market will be watching NAND pricing, enterprise SSD demand, gross margin, and whether the Aug. 13 investor day produces a stronger long-term growth framework.
Western Digital: a steadier check on AI data center storage demand
Western Digital has a slightly different setup. It is being watched more as a steady validation of AI-related data center storage demand.
Benzinga data showed consensus for Western Digital’s fourth quarter stands at EPS of $3.27 and revenue of $3.69 billion. Zacks had earlier projected EPS of $3.34 on revenue of $3.7 billion, implying year-over-year growth of about 101% and 42%, respectively. In its third-quarter report released in April, the company guided for fourth-quarter revenue of $3.65 billion, plus or minus $100 million, non-GAAP gross margin of 51% to 52%, and EPS of $3.25, plus or minus $0.15.
The key issue for Western Digital is demand for high-capacity HDDs and cloud data center storage. Management said in its third-quarter report that AI training, inference, Agentic AI and Physical AI all generate data that needs to be stored for the long term, and that is the basis of HDD demand. If the company again shows revenue growth, margin expansion and strong free cash flow in the fourth quarter, the market is likely to treat that as evidence that AI storage demand is still spreading through the supply chain.
Three reports, three questions for the market
Taken together, AMD’s report is expected to answer whether AI compute orders can keep moving higher. SanDisk’s results will test whether NAND and flash pricing, along with enterprise SSD demand, can support elevated valuations. Western Digital’s numbers will show whether AI data center storage demand can translate into margins in a steadier way.
If all three reports hold up, the latest rebound in chip stocks will look more like a move backed by fundamentals. If any one of them offers cautious guidance, the pressure left behind by July’s valuation reset could return quickly.