Sandisk rises as Western Digital nears exit in secondary offering

Sandisk's SNDK.O shares up 1.9% at $39.87 premarket after data storage provider's secondary offering prices

Milpitas, California-based firm announces ~18.5 mln shares offloaded by Western Digital Corp WDC.O as part of debt-for-equity exchange at $38.50

SNDK shares on Thurs closed down 1.8% at $39.12 after co late Weds launched 17 mln share offering

WDC expected to exchange the SNDK shares for certain indebtedness of WDC held by bookrunners JP Morgan and BofA

If offering overallotment is fully exercised, WDC would own ~7.5 mln SNDK shares

Sandisk has ~145.3 mln shares outstanding for ~$5.7 bln market cap

Its shares closed at $48.60 in their Nasdaq debut on Feb 24 after co split from WDC

Half of the 12 analysts covering Sandisk rate stock "strong buy" or "buy", rest rate "hold" and median PT is $52.50, according to latest LSEG data