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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 at $62.84 in the latest trading session, marking a +1.21% move from the prior day. This move outpaced the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.1%. Meanwhile, the Dow gained 0.26%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, lost 0.1%.

Coming into today, shares of the maker of hard drives for businesses and personal computers had gained 5.26% in the past month. In that same time, the Computer and Technology sector gained 3.66%, while the S&P 500 gained 4.4%.

Investors will be hoping for strength from Western Digital as it approaches its next earnings release. The company is expected to report EPS of $2.13, up 208.7% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $4.8 billion, up 21.79% from the year-ago period.

Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $8.72 per share and revenue of $19.58 billion. These totals would mark changes of +91.65% and +15.73%, respectively, from last 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. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company's business and profitability.

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. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate remained stagnant. Western Digital currently has a Zacks Rank of #5 (Strong Sell).

Valuation is also important, so investors should note that Western Digital has a Forward P/E ratio of 7.12 right now. This represents a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 19.64.

The Computer- Storage Devices industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 207, which puts it in the bottom 19% 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.

Make sure to utilize Zacks.com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.


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