Western Digital (WDC) Stock Price, News & Analysis

Company Overview

Western Digital Corporation develops, manufactures, and sells data storage devices and solutions in the United States, China, Hong Kong, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, rest of Asia, and internationally. It offers client devices, including hard disk drives (HDDs) and solid state drives (SSDs) for desktop and notebook personal computers (PCs), gaming consoles, and set top boxes; and flash-based embedded storage products for mobile phones, tablets, notebook PCs, and other portable and wearable devices, as well as automotive, Internet of Things, industrial, and connected home applications. The company also provides enterprise HDDs; enterprise SSDs consisting of flash-based SSDs and software solutions for use in enterprise servers, online transactions, data analysis, and other enterprise applications; and data storage platforms. In addition, it offers external HDD storage products in mobile and desktop form; client portable SSDs; removable cards that are used in consumer devices comprising mobile phones, tablets, imaging systems, and cameras and smart video systems; universal serial bus flash drives for use in the computing and consumer markets; and wireless drive products used in-field backup of created content, as well as wireless streaming of high-definition movies, photos, music, and documents to tablets, smartphones, and PCs. The company sells its products under the Western Digital, SanDisk, and WD brands to original equipment manufacturers, distributors, dealers, resellers, and retailers. Western Digital Corporation was founded in 1970 and is headquartered in San Jose, California.

Key Stats

• Today's Range: $58.99 to $61.45
• 50-Day Range: $59.62 to $73.43
• 52-Week Range: $48.96 to $81.55
• Volume: 12.65 million shs
• Average Volume: 6.07 million shs
• Market Capitalization: $20.83 billion
• P/E Ratio: 35.44
• Dividend Yield: N/A
• Price Target: $86.33
• Consensus Rating: Moderate Buy

Western Digital Stock Analysis - MarketRank™

Western Digital scored higher than 97% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat, and ranked 31st out of 653 stocks in the computer and technology sector. Scores are calculated by averaging available category scores, with extra weight given to analysis and valuation.

Analyst's Opinion

• Score: 4.4 / 5
• Analyst Rating: Moderate Buy

Consensus Rating

Western Digital has received a consensus rating of Moderate Buy. The company's average rating score is 2.71, and is based on 15 buy ratings, 6 hold ratings, and no sell ratings.

Amount of Analyst Coverage

Western Digital has been the subject of 10 research reports in the past 90 days, demonstrating strong analyst interest in this stock.

Earnings and Valuation

• Score: 3.1 / 5
• Proj. Earnings Growth: 48.32%

Earnings Growth

Earnings for Western Digital are expected to grow by 48.32% in the coming year, from $6.56 to $9.73 per share.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the Market

The P/E ratio of Western Digital is 35.44, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 113.35.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector

The P/E ratio of Western Digital is 35.44, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the Computer and Technology sector average P/E ratio of about 237.69.

Price to Book Value per Share Ratio

Western Digital has a P/B Ratio of 1.82. P/B Ratios below 3 indicates that a company is reasonably valued with respect to its assets and liabilities.

Short Interest

• Score: 1.0 / 5
• Short Interest Level: Bearish

Percentage of Shares Shorted

6.29% of the outstanding shares of Western Digital have been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

Western Digital has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 4.4.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Western Digital has recently increased by 20.11%, indicating that investor sentiment is decreasing significantly.

Dividend

• Score: 0.8 / 5
• Dividend Strength: Weak

Dividend Yield

Western Digital does not currently pay a dividend.

Dividend Growth

Western Digital does not have a long track record of dividend growth.

Dividend Coverage

The dividend payout ratio of Western Digital is 117.65%. Payout ratios above 75% are not desirable because they may not be sustainable.

Dividend Sustainability

Based on earnings estimates, Western Digital will have a dividend payout ratio of 20.55% next year. This indicates that Western Digital will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.

Sustainability and ESG

• Score: 2.4 / 5
• Environmental Score: -1.31

Percentage of Shares Shorted

6.29% of the outstanding shares of Western Digital have been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

Western Digital has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 4.4.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Western Digital has recently increased by 20.11%, indicating that investor sentiment is decreasing significantly.

News and Social Media

• Score: 3.0 / 5
• News Sentiment: 0.45

News Sentiment

Western Digital has a news sentiment score of 0.45. This score is calculated as an average of sentiment of articles about the company over the last seven days and ranges from 2 (good news) to -2 (bad news). This is a lower news sentiment than the 0.64 average news sentiment score of Computer and Technology companies.

News Coverage This Week

MarketBeat has tracked 23 news articles for Western Digital this week, compared to 16 articles on an average week.

Search Interest

55 people have searched for WDC on MarketBeat in the last 30 days. This is an increase of 53% compared to the previous 30 days.

MarketBeat Follows

14 people have added Western Digital to their MarketBeat watchlist in the last 30 days. This is an increase of 250% compared to the previous 30 days.

Company Ownership

• Score: 2.5 / 5
• Insider Trading: Selling Shares

Insider Buying vs. Insider Selling

In the past three months, Western Digital insiders have sold more of their company's stock than they have bought. Specifically, they have bought $0.00 in company stock and sold $13,042,381.00 in company stock.

Percentage Held by Insiders

Only 0.30% of the stock of Western Digital is held by insiders.

Percentage Held by Institutions

92.51% of the stock of Western Digital is held by institutions. High institutional ownership can be a signal of strong market trust in this company.

WDC Stock Analysis - Frequently Asked Questions

How have WDC shares performed this year?

Western Digital's stock was trading at $52.37 at the start of the year. Since then, WDC stock has increased by 15.0% and is now trading at $60.24.
View the best growth stocks for 2024 here.

How were Western Digital's earnings last quarter?

Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) issued its earnings results on Thursday, October, 24th. The data storage provider reported $1.78 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.55 by $0.23. Western Digital's revenue was up 48.9% on a year-over-year basis.
Read the conference call transcript.

Does Western Digital have any subsidiaries?

Western Digital subsidiaries include these companies: Kioxia, Kazan Networks, Tegile Systems, Upthere, SanDisk, Stec's, Virident Systems, and more.

Who are Western Digital's major shareholders?

Top institutional investors of Western Digital include FMR LLC (5.48%), State Street Corp (3.93%), Geode Capital Management LLC (2.29%) and UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC (1.07%). Insiders that own company stock include David Goeckeler, Robert Soderbery, Gene M Zamiska, Kimberly Alexy, Srinivasan Sivaram and Paula A Price.
View institutional ownership trends.

How do I buy shares of Western Digital?

Shares of WDC stock can be purchased through any online brokerage account. Popular online brokerages with access to the U.S. stock market include Charles Schwab, E*TRADE, Fidelity, and Vanguard Brokerage Services.
Compare Top Brokerages Here.

What other stocks do shareholders of Western Digital own?

Based on aggregate information from My MarketBeat watchlists, some other companies that Western Digital investors own include NVIDIA (NVDA), Meta Platforms (META), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Tesla (TSLA), Netflix (NFLX), Visa (V) and JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM).

Company Calendar

• Last Earnings: 10/24/2024
• Today: 12/21/2024
• Fiscal Year End: 6/30/2025

Industry, Sector and Symbol

• Stock Exchange: NASDAQ
• Sector: Computer and Technology
• Industry: Computer storage devices
• Sub-Industry: Computer Storage & Peripherals
• Current Symbol: NASDAQ:WDC
• CUSIP: 95810210
• CIK: 106040
• Web: www.westerndigital.com
• Phone: (408) 717-6000
• Fax: 949-672-5408
• Employees: 51,000
• Year Founded: 1970

Price Target and Rating

• Average Stock Price Target: $86.33
• High Stock Price Target: $115.00
• Low Stock Price Target: $65.00
• Potential Upside/Downside: +43.3%
• Consensus Rating: Moderate Buy
• Rating Score (0-4): 2.71
• Research Coverage: 21 Analysts

Profitability

• EPS (Most Recent Fiscal Year): $1.70
• Trailing P/E Ratio: 35.44
• Forward P/E Ratio: 9.18
• P/E Growth: N/A
• Net Income: $-798,000,000.00
• Net Margins: 4.81%
• Pretax Margin: 4.52%
• Return on Equity: 8.57%
• Return on Assets: 3.76%

Debt

• Debt-to-Equity Ratio: 0.49
• Current Ratio: 1.47
• Quick Ratio: 0.91

Sales & Book Value

• Annual Sales: $14.35 billion
• Price / Sales: 1.45
• Cash Flow: $0.80 per share
• Price / Cash Flow: 75.67
• Book Value: $33.13 per share
• Price / Book: 1.82

Miscellaneous

• Outstanding Shares: 345,708,000
• Free Float: 344,671,000
• Market Cap: $20.83 billion
• Optionable: Optionable
• Beta: 1.42