Western Digital’s Strong Earnings Surprised Analysts, But Stock Prices Took a Hit Despite Growth Potential

Western Digital reported better-than-expected earnings and sales for the fiscal third quarter, sending its stock trading lower late Thursday. The company earned an adjusted 63 cents per share on $3.46 billion in sales for the March-ending quarter, compared to analyst predictions of 22 cents per share on $3.37 billion in sales. Despite this strong performance, Western Digital stock was down fractionally in after-hours trading.

Looking ahead, Western Digital expects to see sales of $3.7 billion at the midpoint of its range for the current quarter, slightly below analyst projections of $3.71 billion, according to FactSet. Despite recent struggles in earnings, Western Digital stock is still optimistic about a potential turnaround.

Western Digital is one of the largest makers of hard disk drives and flash data storage products and plans to spin off its flash and hard-drive businesses by the second half of 2024. Prior to earnings, Western Digital stock was trading flat at $69.44, a 32% increase year-to-date and 111% in the past 12 months.

Western Digital’s technical ratings indicate mixed performance, with a Composite Rating of 66 out of 99, an EPS Rating of 5 out of 99, and a Relative Strength rating of 96 out of 99. Investors may want to consider other data storage companies like Nvidia and Amazon as potential investments as well as learning from growth stock experts in programs like IBD Live can provide valuable insights for making investment decisions.