Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Releases Q4 Earnings Guidance

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) updated its fourth quarter earnings guidance on Thursday. The company provided earnings per share (EPS) guidance of $0.90-1.20 for the period, compared to the consensus estimate of $0.89. The company issued revenue guidance of $3.6-3.8 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $3.71 billion. Western Digital also updated its Q4 2024 guidance to 0.900-1.200 EPS.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on WDC. StockNews.com downgraded Western Digital from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Western Digital from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Friday. Benchmark raised Western Digital from a hold rating to a buy rating and set a $85.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday. Barclays raised their target price on Western Digital from $70.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Raymond James downgraded Western Digital from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a report on Monday, April 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and sixteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Western Digital presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $77.25.

Western Digital Trading Up 2.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ WDC traded up $1.92 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $71.36. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 13,869,066 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,070,411. Western Digital has a 12-month low of $32.01 and a 12-month high of $76.92. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $65.08 and a 200-day moving average price of $54.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.67 and a quick ratio of 0.98.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The data storage provider reported $0.63 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.42. The company had revenue of $3.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.37 billion. Western Digital had a negative net margin of 12.87% and a negative return on equity of 13.67%. Western Digital’s revenue was up 23.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($1.57) EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Western Digital will post -2.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Western Digital news, Director Kimberly Alexy sold 2,648 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.95, for a total transaction of $185,227.60. Following the sale, the director now owns 20,509 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,434,604.55. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 443 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total value of $33,225.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 30,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,321,850. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Kimberly Alexy sold 2,648 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.95, for a total transaction of $185,227.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 20,509 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,434,604.55. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.28% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Western Digital

Western Digital Corporation develops, manufactures, and sells data storage devices and solutions in the United States, China, Hong Kong, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, rest of Asia, and internationally. It offers client devices, including hard disk drives (HDDs) and solid state drives (SSDs) for desktop and notebook personal computers (PCs), gaming consoles, and set top boxes; and flash-based embedded storage products for mobile phones, tablets, notebook PCs, and other portable and wearable devices, as well as automotive, Internet of Things, industrial, and connected home applications.