Higher Capacity HDDs Drive Western Digital's Revenue Growth

Core Insights - Western Digital Corporation's HDD business is experiencing significant revenue growth driven by a shift towards higher-capacity drives and increasing exabyte demand from large-scale customers [2][3] - The company is focused on advancing HDD technology to enhance capacity, performance, energy efficiency, and total cost of ownership for customers [2] Revenue Growth and Market Demand - In the fiscal first quarter, Western Digital shipped 204 exabytes of storage, marking a 23% year-over-year increase, largely due to the rising adoption of AI and data-intensive workloads [3] - The demand for higher-capacity HDDs is evident, with over 2.2 million units of ePMR-based products shipped in the September quarter [3] Technological Advancements - Western Digital is progressing with its next-generation HAMR drives, with all top seven customers placing orders through the first half of 2026, indicating strong customer confidence [4] - The qualification process for HAMR technology is aimed at ensuring reliability and performance, with volume production expected to ramp up in the first half of 2027 [5] Future Outlook - Management anticipates ongoing revenue growth in the second quarter of fiscal 2026, projecting non-GAAP revenues of $2.9 billion, which represents a 20% increase year-over-year [7] - The proliferation of generative AI is expected to drive a refresh cycle in client and consumer devices, boosting long-term content growth across various sectors [6] Competitive Landscape - Competitors like Pure Storage are also experiencing growth, with a raised fiscal 2026 revenue outlook and strong sales momentum in enterprise storage [8][9] - Micron Technology is benefiting from the expanding AI-driven memory and storage markets, with anticipated revenues of $18.7 billion for the fiscal second quarter [11] Stock Performance and Valuation - Over the past three months, Western Digital's shares have increased by 62.7%, outperforming the Zacks Computer-Storage Devices industry's growth of 23.8% [12] - The forward price/earnings ratio for Western Digital is currently at 20.36X, slightly above the industry's 19.68X [14] - The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Western Digital's earnings for fiscal 2026 has been revised up by 0.4% to $7.66 [15]