Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.38 EPS

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) issued its earnings results on Thursday. The data storage provider reported $2.72 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.34 by $0.38, FiscalAI reports. The business had revenue of $3.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.23 billion. Western Digital had a return on equity of 41.53% and a net margin of 35.52%.Western Digital’s revenue was up 45.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.36 earnings per share. Western Digital updated its Q4 2026 guidance to 3.100-3.400 EPS.

Here are the key takeaways from Western Digital’s conference call:

• WD reported a strong quarter with $3.3B revenue (+45% YoY), $2.72 EPS (≈+97% YoY), 50.5% gross margin, and 222 exabytes shipped (+34% YoY), all above guidance.
• Management sees AI-driven secular tailwinds — agentic AI, inference, synthetic and physical AI — driving persistent storage needs and expects >25% long‑term exabyte CAGR.
• Product roadmap momentum — 40TB EPMR on track for H2 CY2026 volume, 44TB HAMR in qualification with four customers, and expanding UltraSMR adoption across major customers.
• Financial position strengthened — monetized SanDisk to cut ~$3.1B debt, achieved investment‑grade upgrades, ended with net cash ≈$450M, generated ~$978M free cash flow, raised dividend 20% and repurchased $752M of stock.
• HAMR is still in customer qualification with no explicit shipment share targets and ongoing yield/reliability work, creating execution risk and a phased adoption timeline for higher‑density supply.

Western Digital Stock Performance

Shares of Western Digital stock traded up $21.76 during trading on Thursday, reaching $434.52. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 11,400,055 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,454,714. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.46. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $314.33 and its 200-day moving average price is $233.19. The firm has a market cap of $147.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 43.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.86 and a beta of 1.77. Western Digital has a one year low of $43.60 and a one year high of $441.99.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on WDC. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Western Digital to $495.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Evercore raised their target price on Western Digital from $378.00 to $410.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 20th. Susquehanna restated a “neutral” rating and set a $285.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, February 6th. Argus set a $300.00 target price on Western Digital in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Western Digital from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $340.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. Nineteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Western Digital has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $320.38.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Vidyadhara K. Gubbi sold 10,148 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.31, for a total value of $2,743,105.88. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 107,794 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,137,796.14. The trade was a 8.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Irving Tan sold 20,000 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.44, for a total value of $5,108,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 623,586 shares in the company, valued at $159,288,807.84. The trade was a 3.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 92,711 shares of company stock valued at $24,300,404. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Western Digital

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Sivia Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in Western Digital during the second quarter valued at about $307,000. ICONIQ Capital LLC bought a new position in Western Digital during the second quarter valued at about $215,000. Ironwood Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Western Digital during the fourth quarter valued at about $214,000. Wellspring Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Western Digital during the fourth quarter valued at about $211,000. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. increased its stake in Western Digital by 108.5% during the third quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 1,745 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $210,000 after acquiring an additional 908 shares during the period. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

More Western Digital News

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

• Positive Sentiment: WDC beat Q3 estimates (EPS $2.72 vs. ~ $2.34–2.41) and reported revenue growth of ~45%, with conference materials and a slide deck available — results underpin the rally and justify re-rating on stronger profitability. MarketBeat Press Release / Slide Deck
• Positive Sentiment: Management guided Q4 EPS to $3.10–3.40 and revenue roughly $3.6–3.8B, above consensus — signaling sustained pricing power from enterprise AI storage demand. Reuters: WDC forecasts revenue above estimates
• Positive Sentiment: Peer signals: SanDisk and Seagate also flagged strong AI-related demand and higher revenue outlooks, giving sector-level validation that hyperscaler capex is driving near-term HDD/SSD consumption. Reuters: SanDisk joins peers signaling AI demand
• Positive Sentiment: Sector momentum from Seagate’s blowout results lifted investor appetite for WDC ahead of and after the print — reinforcing a near-term “picks-and-shovels” trade into storage suppliers. 247WallSt: HDD trade lifts WDC & STX
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts remain constructive (some raised price targets; institutional notes like Bank of America were bullish), but consensus estimates were elevated into the print — meaning future upside depends on execution and whether demand stays strong. Barchart: Analysts bullish ahead of earnings
• Negative Sentiment: Despite the beat and upbeat guidance, some traders sold into the news — headlines and TV coverage called it a “buy the rumor, sell the news” episode after WDC’s large prior gains, producing intraday pullbacks. MarketWatch: Stock slides despite earnings beat
• Negative Sentiment: Several outlets noted late-day slips and profit-taking after the print; elevated valuation and very large short- and long-term moves increase volatility risk for investors entering new positions now. Yahoo Finance: Stock slips late despite beat

About Western Digital

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.