Western Digital Corporation

Western Digital Corporation (WDC) has surprised the last four quarters by an average of 106.19%. The stock has soared off of optimism about the improving technology sector. With earnings results looming, can it keep up the big beats?

Company Description

Western Digital manufactures hard drives for electronic devices, including PCs and netbooks.

Western Digital Crushed Estimates in Fiscal Fourth Quarter 2009

On July 28, Western Digital reported its fiscal fourth-quarter results which saw it surprising on the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 181.48%. Earnings per share were 76 cents compared to the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 27 cents.

Revenue, however, fell to $1.9 billion on 40 million hard drives shipped from $2 billion and 35.2 million hard drives shipped in the year ago period.

Cash Hoard Grows

Western Digital is a cash generating machine. In the fiscal fourth quarter, it added $349 million in cash which brings its total cash hoard to $1.8 billion as of the end of June.

Zacks Consensus Estimates Jumping

As the stock has soared, so have the estimates. The fiscal first quarter Zacks Consensus Estimate is up 8 cents to 89 cents in just the last month.

Fiscal 2010 estimates climbed 7.9% to $3.54 per share in the last 30 days with 6 out of 16 raising in that time period. One analyst also raised in the last week. Analysts now expect year over year earnings growth in fiscal 2010 of 39.52%.

Western Digital is scheduled to report first quarter 2010 results on Oct 15.

Value Fundamentals

Despite the huge surge in the stock, Western Digital is still an attractive value stock. It is trading with a forward P/E of 10.22 and a price-to-book ratio of 2.53. The company also has a stellar 5-year average return on equity (ROE) of 33.94%.

1-Year Chart:

Read the full analyst report on WDC