Leading data storage manufacturer Western Digital (NASDAQ: WDC) will be reporting results this Thursday afternoon. Here’s what you need to know.
Western Digital beat analysts’ revenue expectations last quarter, reporting revenues of $3.75 billion, up 43.8% year on year. It was a very strong quarter for the company, with a solid beat of analysts’ operating income estimates and a beat of analysts’ EPS estimates.
Is Western Digital a buy or sell going into earnings? Read our full analysis here, it’s free for active Edge members.
This quarter, the market is expecting Western Digital’s revenue to grow 47.5% year on year, improving from the 27.4% increase it recorded in the same quarter last year.
Analysts covering the company have generally reconfirmed their estimates over the last 30 days, suggesting they anticipate the business will stay the course heading into earnings. Western Digital has missed Wall Street’s revenue estimates multiple times over the last two years.
Looking at Western Digital’s peers in the semiconductors segment, some have already reported their Q3 results, giving us a hint as to what we can expect. Micron delivered year-on-year revenue growth of 379%, beating analysts’ expectations by 6.4%, and Penguin Solutions reported revenues up 67.7%, topping estimates by 8.8%. Micron traded up 3% following the results while Penguin Solutions was also up 13.1%.
Read our full analysis of Micron’s results here and Penguin Solutions’s results here.
In the last year or so, investors have shifted their focus from one macro dynamic to the next (AI disintermediation and AI investment to geopolitical conflict, interest rates, and the health of the wider economy). While some of the semiconductors stocks have shown solid performance in this choppy environment, the group has generally underperformed, with share prices down 5.9% on average over the last month. Western Digital is down 16.7% during the same time and is heading into earnings with an average analyst price target of $650.67 (compared to the current share price of $373.25).
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