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Western Digital (WDC) Gains As Market Dips: What You Should Know

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Western Digital (WDC - Free Report) closed the most recent trading day at $57.52, moving +1% from the previous trading session. This change outpaced the S&P 500's 0.85% loss on the day. Elsewhere, the Dow lost 0.17%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.05%.

Coming into today, shares of the maker of hard drives for businesses and personal computers had gained 3.47% in the past month. In that same time, the Computer and Technology sector lost 0.5%, while the S&P 500 lost 0.97%.

Investors will be hoping for strength from Western Digital as it approaches its next earnings release. On that day, Western Digital is projected to report earnings of $2.13 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 208.7%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $4.8 billion, up 21.79% from the year-ago period.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $8.72 per share and revenue of $19.58 billion, which would represent changes of +91.65% and +15.73%, respectively, from the prior year.

Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for Western Digital. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an actionable rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection remained stagnant. Western Digital is holding a Zacks Rank of #5 (Strong Sell) right now.

Digging into valuation, Western Digital currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 6.53. This represents a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 18.95.

The Computer- Storage Devices industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 198, putting it in the bottom 23% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank includes is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.


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