Core Viewpoint - Rosenblatt analyst Kevin Cassidy has relaunched coverage on Western Digital (WDC) with a Buy rating and lowered the price target from $76 to $50, reflecting a valuation based on expected profitable growth in the HDD market [1] Group 1: Market Dynamics - HDDs are expected to remain the dominant storage media, accounting for over 80% of cloud storage, with exabyte shipments projected to grow at a 23% CAGR from 2024 to 2028 [2] - AI-driven storage demand is accelerating, contributing an estimated 8% growth to the HDD market by 2028, with Nearline HDD growth forecasted at 14% CAGR when including AI [2][3] Group 2: Financial Performance - Western Digital anticipates fiscal 2025 revenue for HDDs to be approximately $2.2 billion to $2.3 billion, with a sequential gross margin expansion of 50 basis points [5] - The company expects to generate $600 million from the SanDisk spin-off and aims for adjusted gross margins of 38% or higher and operating margins of 24% or higher in the long term [6] Group 3: Strategic Focus - Western Digital is shifting its focus to cloud storage, projected to contribute 88% of revenue by fiscal 2025, with Nearline HDDs being the primary revenue driver [3][4] - The company is transitioning to higher-capacity HDDs (40TB+) with EAMR and HAMR technologies to maintain cost-competitive leadership in the AI-driven era [8][10] Group 4: Cost Competitiveness - HDDs maintain a six times cost advantage over enterprise SSDs and a 3.6 times TCO advantage, with plans to transition to HAMR technology by 2027 [4][9] - HDD manufacturing has a capital intensity of just 5%, significantly lower than NAND's 44%, and has lower emissions intensity per TB [9] Group 5: Shareholder Returns - Western Digital is initiating a dividend in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025 and is committed to returning 100% of excess cash to shareholders after achieving a net leverage target of 1.0 to 1.5 times EBITDA [7]

Western Digital Corporation (WDC) is set to report fiscal third-quarter 2025 results on April 30, before the closing bell. (Find the latest EPS estimates and surprises on Zacks Earnings Calendar.) The Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings is pegged at $1.17 per share, which moved up 13.6% in the past 60 days. WDC reported a loss per share of 63 cents in the prior-year quarter.The consensus estimate for revenues is currently pegged at $2.24 billion, indicating a fall of 35.2% from the prior-year quarter’s fi ...

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The latest trading session saw Western Digital (WDC) ending at $35.93, denoting a +0.31% adjustment from its last day's close. This move outpaced the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.17%. Elsewhere, the Dow lost 0.39%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.05%.Coming into today, shares of the maker of hard drives for businesses and personal computers had lost 19.96% in the past month. In that same time, the Computer and Technology sector lost 6.26%, while the S&P 500 lost 3.94%.The investment community will be paying ...

Core Viewpoint - The HDD glass substrate industry is facing challenges due to the rapid growth of SSDs, leading to a shrinking market for HDD glass substrates, which is projected to decline from $8.87 billion in 2024 to $5.53 billion by 2031, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of -5.70% from 2025 to 2031 [13]. Industry Status - The production of HDD glass substrates is highly concentrated, with Hoya being the sole manufacturer, operating three production bases in Southeast Asia (Thailand, Vietnam, and Laos) [2]. - The HDD industry is mature but is experiencing a decline in demand due to competition from SSDs, particularly in consumer applications like laptops, while still maintaining strong demand in data centers and enterprise storage [3]. Technological Advancements - Continuous improvements in glass substrate manufacturing technology, especially in surface treatment and smoothness, are enabling higher density storage solutions [4]. - New technologies such as MRAM (Magnetoresistive Random Access Memory) and HAMR (Heat-Assisted Magnetic Recording) are being developed to support advanced storage media and heads [4][5]. Market Trends - The demand for higher density storage is driving the development of glass substrates, particularly with the support of HAMR and MAMR (Microwave-Assisted Magnetic Recording) technologies [5]. - The HDD market is expected to maintain stable demand in the medium to long term, especially in cloud services and data centers that require large-capacity, low-cost storage solutions [8][19]. Competitive Landscape - The rise of SSDs is intensifying competition, prompting HDD manufacturers to innovate with new technologies and materials to enhance market competitiveness [6]. - The production process for HDDs is moving towards greater automation and intelligence, utilizing AI and big data analytics to optimize production efficiency and yield [7]. Application Segmentation - Data centers are the primary application for HDD glass substrates, projected to account for 60.30% of global market revenue in 2024 [19]. - While HDDs remain relevant in enterprise storage, they are gradually being replaced by SSDs in consumer electronics due to advantages in speed, shock resistance, and power efficiency [9].

Core Viewpoint - Benchmark analyst Mark Miller upgraded Western Digital Corp from Hold to Buy with a price target of $55, citing attractive valuations and growth potential in data center spending and AI opportunities [1] Group 1: Company Performance and Valuation - Western Digital stock is currently trading at the low end of its historical valuation range, which typically spans from mid-single digits to teen multiples [1] - The company reported a record Nearline Exabytes (EB) shipment and Data Center sales last quarter, indicating strong demand in the data center segment [3] - Projected third-quarter revenue for Western Digital is $2.70 billion with an EPS of $1.32, an increase from the prior estimate of $1.12 [5] Group 2: Industry Trends and Opportunities - Nearly two-thirds of companies using cloud storage expect their cloud-based storage to grow by over 100% in the next three years, indicating a significant market expansion [2] - Major cloud service providers, including Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft, are expected to increase their combined capital expenditure by 40%, from approximately $230 billion in 2024 to $322 billion in 2025 [2] - Approximately 89% of data stored by leading cloud service providers is on hard drives, which positions Western Digital favorably as data center spending continues to rise [3] Group 3: AI and Storage Cost Dynamics - The unit price per GB for nearline storage HDDs is $0.013, significantly lower than the $0.123 per GB for large capacity SSDs, making HDDs more cost-effective for data storage [4] - The growth of AI applications is expected to increase the demand for data storage, favoring hard drives over flash storage due to the need for long-term data retention [4] - The anticipated ramp-up of PCs with AI chips in the second half of 2025 is expected to drive a refresh cycle for PCs, further benefiting Western Digital [5]

Company Performance - Western Digital (WDC) shares increased by 15.1% to $36.30, following a 24.5% loss over the previous four weeks, driven by President Trump's announcement of a 90-day halt on reciprocal tariffs, excluding China [1] - The company is experiencing increasing sales momentum in the Cloud end-market, particularly due to heightened demand for nearline HDDs [2] - Management anticipates that the rise of generative AI will lead to a refresh cycle in client and consumer devices, boosting content growth across smartphones, gaming, PCs, and consumer markets [3] Market Trends - The adoption of generative AI surged to 65% in 2024 from 33% in 2023, increasing demand for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) for AI servers and NAND flash for storage, which is essential for SSDs [4] - The growth in AI data is expected to drive eSSD sales, reshaping the storage market due to its speed, reliability, and efficiency compared to HDDs [4] Business Structure - In February 2025, Western Digital completed the separation of its HDD and Flash businesses into two independent, publicly traded companies, allowing each to focus on its specific market [5] Financial Expectations - Western Digital is projected to report quarterly earnings of $1.06 per share, reflecting a year-over-year increase of 68.3%, with revenues expected to reach $3.85 billion, up 11.4% from the previous year [6] - The consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has been revised 3.2% higher over the last 30 days, indicating a positive trend that typically correlates with stock price appreciation [8]

Group 1 - The article highlights the market's focus on chipmakers like NVIDIA due to innovations in generative AI, while other beneficiaries are being overlooked [1] - There is a growing interest in data-driven analysis for identifying long-term stock picking opportunities, particularly in the context of wealth generation for retirement and family [1] Group 2 - No specific companies or investment positions are disclosed, indicating a neutral stance on the mentioned stocks [2] - The article emphasizes that past performance does not guarantee future results, and no investment recommendations are provided [3]

Have you been searching for a stock that might be well-positioned to maintain its earnings-beat streak in its upcoming report? It is worth considering Western Digital (WDC) , which belongs to the Zacks Computer- Storage Devices industry.When looking at the last two reports, this maker of hard drives for businesses and personal computers has recorded a strong streak of surpassing earnings estimates. The company has topped estimates by 1.72%, on average, in the last two quarters.For the last reported quarter, ...

Company Performance - Western Digital's stock closed at $43.66, reflecting a decrease of -1.91% from the previous day, underperforming the S&P 500's gain of 0.08% [1] - Over the past month, Western Digital shares have declined by 37.57%, significantly worse than the Computer and Technology sector's loss of 12.04% and the S&P 500's loss of 7.33% [2] Financial Expectations - Analysts anticipate Western Digital will report earnings of $1.06 per share, representing a year-over-year growth of 68.25%. Revenue is expected to reach $3.85 billion, indicating an 11.4% increase compared to the same quarter last year [3] - For the full year, Zacks Consensus Estimates project earnings of $5.46 per share and revenue of $16.27 billion, which would signify year-over-year changes of +2830% and +25.13%, respectively [4] Analyst Projections - Recent shifts in analyst projections for Western Digital are crucial, as they reflect short-term business trends. Positive estimate revisions are seen as a sign of optimism regarding the company's outlook [5] - The Zacks Rank system, which incorporates estimate changes, currently ranks Western Digital at 3 (Hold), with the consensus EPS estimate having decreased by 0.95% over the last 30 days [7] Valuation Metrics - Western Digital has a Forward P/E ratio of 8.16, which is lower than the industry's average Forward P/E of 12.93, indicating a valuation discount [8] - The Computer-Storage Devices industry, part of the Computer and Technology sector, holds a Zacks Industry Rank of 31, placing it in the top 13% of over 250 industries [8]