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Valued at $19.2 billion by market cap, Western Digital Corporation (WDC) is a leading player in the data storage industry. The California-based company offers a wide range of hard drives, solid-state drives, and flash storage solutions for diverse applications, from personal computing to enterprise systems.
Shares of the leading maker of hard drives have notably outperformed the broader market over the past 52 weeks. WDC has surged 38.3% over this time frame, while the broader S&P 500 Index ($SPX) has rallied 18.2%. In 2024, WDC's 12.6% gain surpassed SPX's 11.5% increase on a YTD basis.
Zooming in further, WDC has also outpaced the iShares Cloud 5G and Tech ETF's (IDAT) almost 17.6% return over the past 52 weeks and a 3.7% YTD gain.
Western Digital has outperformed over the past year due to increased demand for memory related to AI applications and a rise in memory prices. Additionally, the company’s solid growth in cloud, HDD, and Flash business exabytes shipped, coupled with the anticipated benefits from its planned spinoff, has bolstered its stock performance.
Moreover, the stock rose 6.1% on Jul. 31 after its Q4 earnings release due to a profit beat and strong growth in its flash memory business. However, the stock dipped 9.7% the following day as Western Digital forecasted Q1 revenue below Wall Street estimates, signaling a weaker-than-expected recovery in data storage demand and raising concerns about ongoing industry challenges.
For the current fiscal year, ending in June 2025, analysts expect WDC’s EPS to grow a staggering 949.1% year over year to $9.34. The company's earnings surprise history is promising. It beat the consensus estimates in each of the last four quarters.
Among the 21 analysts covering the stock, the consensus rating is a “Strong Buy.” That’s based on 16 “Strong Buys” and five “Holds.”
This configuration has remained fairly steady over the past three months.
On Aug. 1, Benchmark analyst Mark Miller raised Western Digital's price target to $92, maintaining a “Buy” rating after strong Nearline HDD and Enterprise SSD sales, and projects a positive FY25 outlook.
The mean price target of $89.67 represents a premium of 54.8% to WDC's current levels. The Street-high price target of $115 suggests that the stock could rally as much as 98.5% from here.
On the date of publication, Sohini Mondal did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. For more information please view the Barchart Disclosure Policy here.
