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Western Digital (WDC) Q3 Earnings & Revenues Beat Estimates
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Western Digital Corporation (WDC - Free Report) reported third-quarter fiscal 2022 non-GAAP earnings of $1.65 per share, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 12.2%. The bottom line increased 62% year over year but declined 28% quarter over quarter.
Revenues of $4.381 billion beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 1.6%. The top line increased 6% year over year. The performance was driven by higher demand from cloud customers. On a sequential basis, revenues declined 9%. Pandemic-induced supply chain disruptions and the impact of fab contamination acted as headwinds.
Following the announcement, WDC’s shares are down 1.4% in the premarket trading on Apr 29. In the past year, shares of Western Digital have lost 25.5% of their value compared with the industry’s decline of 7%.
Western Digital Corporation Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise
Beginning first-quarter fiscal 2022, Western Digital started reporting revenues under three refined end-markets — Cloud (includes products for public or private cloud), Client (includes products sold directly to OEMs or through distribution) and Consumer (includes retail and other end-user products).
Revenues from the Cloud end market (40% of total revenues) increased 25% year over year to $1.774 billion. On a sequential basis, cloud revenues were down 8%. Higher demand for 8 TB capacity drives and ramp of 20-TB drives boosted revenues of nearline products. However, enterprise SSD and smart video hard drive revenues were affected by reduced demand.
Revenues from the Client end market (40%) were down 2% year over year and declined 7% sequentially to $1.732 billion. Seasonality in demand for flash for mobile and client hard drives affected sequential revenue growth.
Revenues from the Consumer end market (20%) were down 8% year over year and 17% sequentially to $875 million. Sequential performance was affected by lower retail flash shipments.
Considering revenues by product group, HDD revenues (48.8% of total revenues) rose 9% year over year to $2.138 billion. The results benefited mainly from demand for capacity enterprise drives from cloud and enterprise customers. However, revenues declined 3% quarter over quarter.
Flash revenues (51.2%) rose 3% from the year-ago quarter’s figure to $2.243 billion. Sequentially, flash revenues declined 14%.
Key Metrics
The company shipped 19.8 million HDDs at an average selling price (ASP) of $101. The reported shipments declined 14.7% from the year-ago quarter’s levels.
On a quarter-over-quarter basis, HDD Exabytes sales inched up 1%. Flash exabytes sales declined 14%. Total exabytes sales (excluding non-memory products) were down 2% sequentially.
ASP/Gigabytes (excluding licensing, royalties, and non-memory products) were down 1% sequentially.
Margins
Non-GAAP gross margin of 31.7% expanded 400 basis points (bps) on a year-over-year basis.
HDD gross margin expanded 270 bps year over year to 27.7%. Flash gross margin was 35.6% up 560 bps year over year.
Non-GAAP operating expenses moved up 1% from the year-ago quarter’s level to $740 million.
Non-GAAP operating income came in at $650 million, soaring 58% year over year. As a percentage of revenues, the non-GAAP operating margin was 14.8% compared with 10% reported in the year-ago quarter.
Balance Sheet & Cash Flow
As of Apr 1, 2022, cash and cash equivalents were $2.505 billion compared with $2.531 billion reported as of Dec 31, 2021.
The long-term debt (including the current portion) was $7.087 billion as of Apr 1, 2022, compared with $7.308 billion as of Dec 31, 2021. In the quarter under review, Western Digital repaid the debt worth $150 million.
Western Digital generated $398 million in cash from operations compared with $666 million reported in the previous quarter.
Free cash flow came in at $148 million compared with a free cash flow of $407 million in the prior quarter.
During the quarter, the company did not pay out any dividends. On Apr 30, 2020, Western Digital suspended its dividend policy to strengthen reinvestment in innovation and growth as well as facilitate ongoing deleveraging efforts.
Q4 Guidance
For fourth-quarter fiscal 2022, the company expects non-GAAP revenues in the range of $4.5-$4.7 billion. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenues is currently pegged at $4.64 billion.
Management projects non-GAAP earnings between $1.60 and $1.90 per share. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings is currently pegged at $1.84 per share.
Western Digital expects the non-GAAP gross margin in the range of 31-33%. Non-GAAP operating expenses are expected to be between $770 million and $790 million.
Zacks Rank & Stocks to Consider
Currently, Western Digital carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Flex’s fiscal 2022 earnings is pegged at $1.88 per share, unchanged in the past 60 days. The long-term earnings growth rate is pegged at 14.9%.
Flex earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate all last four quarters, with the average being 25.6%. Shares of FLEX have declined 2.8% in the past year.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Jabil fiscal 2022 earnings is pegged at $7.25 per share, up 10.2% in the past 60 days. The long-term earnings growth rate is 12%.
Jabil earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate all last four quarters, with the average being 13.5%. Shares of JBL have gained 13.3% in the past year.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Broadcom’s fiscal 2022 earnings is pegged at $35.67 per share, up 7.5% in the past 60 days. AVGO’s long-term earnings growth rate is pegged at 14.5%.
Broadcom’s earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in all the preceding four quarters, with the average being 1.9%. Shares of AVGO have increased 26.9% in the past year.
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Western Digital (WDC) Q3 Earnings & Revenues Beat Estimates
Western Digital Corporation (WDC - Free Report) reported third-quarter fiscal 2022 non-GAAP earnings of $1.65 per share, which surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 12.2%. The bottom line increased 62% year over year but declined 28% quarter over quarter.
Revenues of $4.381 billion beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 1.6%. The top line increased 6% year over year. The performance was driven by higher demand from cloud customers. On a sequential basis, revenues declined 9%. Pandemic-induced supply chain disruptions and the impact of fab contamination acted as headwinds.
Following the announcement, WDC’s shares are down 1.4% in the premarket trading on Apr 29. In the past year, shares of Western Digital have lost 25.5% of their value compared with the industry’s decline of 7%.
Western Digital Corporation Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise
Western Digital Corporation price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Western Digital Corporation Quote
Quarter in Detail
Beginning first-quarter fiscal 2022, Western Digital started reporting revenues under three refined end-markets — Cloud (includes products for public or private cloud), Client (includes products sold directly to OEMs or through distribution) and Consumer (includes retail and other end-user products).
Revenues from the Cloud end market (40% of total revenues) increased 25% year over year to $1.774 billion. On a sequential basis, cloud revenues were down 8%. Higher demand for 8 TB capacity drives and ramp of 20-TB drives boosted revenues of nearline products. However, enterprise SSD and smart video hard drive revenues were affected by reduced demand.
Revenues from the Client end market (40%) were down 2% year over year and declined 7% sequentially to $1.732 billion. Seasonality in demand for flash for mobile and client hard drives affected sequential revenue growth.
Revenues from the Consumer end market (20%) were down 8% year over year and 17% sequentially to $875 million. Sequential performance was affected by lower retail flash shipments.
Considering revenues by product group, HDD revenues (48.8% of total revenues) rose 9% year over year to $2.138 billion. The results benefited mainly from demand for capacity enterprise drives from cloud and enterprise customers. However, revenues declined 3% quarter over quarter.
Flash revenues (51.2%) rose 3% from the year-ago quarter’s figure to $2.243 billion. Sequentially, flash revenues declined 14%.
Key Metrics
The company shipped 19.8 million HDDs at an average selling price (ASP) of $101. The reported shipments declined 14.7% from the year-ago quarter’s levels.
On a quarter-over-quarter basis, HDD Exabytes sales inched up 1%. Flash exabytes sales declined 14%. Total exabytes sales (excluding non-memory products) were down 2% sequentially.
ASP/Gigabytes (excluding licensing, royalties, and non-memory products) were down 1% sequentially.
Margins
Non-GAAP gross margin of 31.7% expanded 400 basis points (bps) on a year-over-year basis.
HDD gross margin expanded 270 bps year over year to 27.7%. Flash gross margin was 35.6% up 560 bps year over year.
Non-GAAP operating expenses moved up 1% from the year-ago quarter’s level to $740 million.
Non-GAAP operating income came in at $650 million, soaring 58% year over year. As a percentage of revenues, the non-GAAP operating margin was 14.8% compared with 10% reported in the year-ago quarter.
Balance Sheet & Cash Flow
As of Apr 1, 2022, cash and cash equivalents were $2.505 billion compared with $2.531 billion reported as of Dec 31, 2021.
The long-term debt (including the current portion) was $7.087 billion as of Apr 1, 2022, compared with $7.308 billion as of Dec 31, 2021. In the quarter under review, Western Digital repaid the debt worth $150 million.
Western Digital generated $398 million in cash from operations compared with $666 million reported in the previous quarter.
Free cash flow came in at $148 million compared with a free cash flow of $407 million in the prior quarter.
During the quarter, the company did not pay out any dividends. On Apr 30, 2020, Western Digital suspended its dividend policy to strengthen reinvestment in innovation and growth as well as facilitate ongoing deleveraging efforts.
Q4 Guidance
For fourth-quarter fiscal 2022, the company expects non-GAAP revenues in the range of $4.5-$4.7 billion. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenues is currently pegged at $4.64 billion.
Management projects non-GAAP earnings between $1.60 and $1.90 per share. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings is currently pegged at $1.84 per share.
Western Digital expects the non-GAAP gross margin in the range of 31-33%. Non-GAAP operating expenses are expected to be between $770 million and $790 million.
Zacks Rank & Stocks to Consider
Currently, Western Digital carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Some better-ranked stocks from the broader technology sector are Flex (FLEX - Free Report) , Jabil (JBL - Free Report) and Broadcom (AVGO - Free Report) . Jabil sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), while Flex and Broadcom carries a Zacks Rank of 2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Flex’s fiscal 2022 earnings is pegged at $1.88 per share, unchanged in the past 60 days. The long-term earnings growth rate is pegged at 14.9%.
Flex earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate all last four quarters, with the average being 25.6%. Shares of FLEX have declined 2.8% in the past year.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Jabil fiscal 2022 earnings is pegged at $7.25 per share, up 10.2% in the past 60 days. The long-term earnings growth rate is 12%.
Jabil earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate all last four quarters, with the average being 13.5%. Shares of JBL have gained 13.3% in the past year.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Broadcom’s fiscal 2022 earnings is pegged at $35.67 per share, up 7.5% in the past 60 days. AVGO’s long-term earnings growth rate is pegged at 14.5%.
Broadcom’s earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in all the preceding four quarters, with the average being 1.9%. Shares of AVGO have increased 26.9% in the past year.