Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Trading 15.4% Higher – What’s Next?

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC)’s share price was up 15.4% on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $547.07 and last traded at $533.04. 8,266,894 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 7% from the average session volume of 8,925,656 shares. The stock had previously closed at $462.04.

Western Digital News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Western Digital this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Memory stocks rallied broadly, with SanDisk leading the S&P 500 and peers including Micron, Seagate, SK Hynix and Western Digital moving higher. The sector-wide rebound is supporting WDC through improved investor sentiment. Memory Stocks Surge
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst Chris Caso argued that a semiconductor oversupply cycle is unlikely before 2028 because the industry lacks sufficient physical infrastructure to create excess capacity. That outlook supports expectations for firm memory and storage pricing. Analyst Sees Limited Semiconductor Oversupply Risk
• Positive Sentiment: Strong hard-drive demand and tighter global supply expectations are reinforcing the bullish case for Western Digital’s cloud and enterprise storage business. Seagate’s results also helped lift expectations for rival WDC. Western Digital Benefits From Hard-Drive Demand
• Neutral Sentiment: Western Digital’s upcoming earnings report is the next major catalyst. Investors will assess whether AI-driven demand is translating into stronger pricing, margins, cash flow and forward guidance. Western Digital Earnings Preview
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain concerned about competition from China’s ChangXin Memory Technologies and whether the current supply shortage can persist, creating a risk to long-term pricing power. China Competition Raises Memory-Sector Concerns
• Negative Sentiment: Insider Cynthia Tregillis sold 808 shares under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan. The transaction represented only 0.70% of her holdings, limiting its significance, but it remains a modest negative sentiment signal.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

WDC has been the subject of several analyst reports. Weiss Ratings raised Western Digital from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Zacks Research raised Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Western Digital from $685.00 to $800.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $575.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eighteen have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Western Digital presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $520.32.

Western Digital Trading Up 15.4%

The company has a 50-day moving average price of $565.89 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $404.28. The stock has a market capitalization of $183.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.82 and a beta of 2.11.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The data storage provider reported $2.72 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.39 by $0.33. Western Digital had a return on equity of 42.95% and a net margin of 55.29%.The company had revenue of $3.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.25 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.36 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 45.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Western Digital Corporation will post 9.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Western Digital news, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $411.84, for a total transaction of $8,236,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 598,150 shares in the company, valued at approximately $246,342,096. This represents a 3.24% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 4,674 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction on Monday, May 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $443.19, for a total transaction of $2,071,470.06. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 90,041 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,905,270.79. This represents a 4.93% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 29,767 shares of company stock valued at $13,059,607 in the last ninety days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Western Digital

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Rakuten Securities Inc. raised its stake in Western Digital by 4,070.0% during the 2nd quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 417 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 407 shares during the period. Avion Wealth grew its stake in Western Digital by 163.8% in the fourth quarter. Avion Wealth now owns 182 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 113 shares during the period. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. acquired a new stake in Western Digital in the first quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Swiss RE Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, BOKF NA raised its position in shares of Western Digital by 6,700.0% during the third quarter. BOKF NA now owns 272 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 268 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Company Profile

Western Digital Corporation is a global data storage company that designs, manufactures and sells a broad range of storage devices and systems for personal, enterprise and cloud applications. Headquartered in San Jose, California, the company develops hard disk drives (HDDs), solid-state drives (SSDs), NAND flash components and finished storage products used in PCs, external storage, servers, network-attached storage (NAS) and embedded systems.

Its product portfolio spans consumer and commercial markets, including internal and external HDDs and SSDs, removable flash memory products and storage platforms for data center and enterprise environments.