Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Stock Price Up 10.5% – What’s Next?

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) was up 10.5% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $280.81 and last traded at $279.30. Approximately 6,270,607 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 28% from the average daily volume of 8,681,133 shares. The stock had previously closed at $252.66.

More Western Digital News

Here are the key news stories impacting Western Digital this week:

• Positive Sentiment: AI-driven memory shortage and ETF interest — Analysts and commentators highlight a multi-year memory supercycle (DRAM/NAND) tied to AI and hyperscaler spending, boosting demand/pricing for WDC’s high-capacity storage products; this sector momentum is attracting targeted ETFs that funnel capital into memory names. Tap the Super-Hot Memory Market With These ETFs
• Positive Sentiment: High conviction from media/TV personalities — Jim Cramer has flagged Western Digital as facing an unmet shortage and expects the company’s quarter to be “very positive,” which can drive retail and momentum flows into WDC ahead of results. Western Digital (WDC) is Facing a Shortage That Can’t Be Met, Says Jim Cramer
• Positive Sentiment: New leveraged ETFs and product launches increase investor access — Tradr launched 2x leveraged ETFs targeting Sandisk and Western Digital, creating another channel for inflows and amplifying price moves when sentiment is favorable. Hot Stocks, Double Exposure: Tradr’s 2X ETFs Target Sandisk, Western Digital And Lumentum
• Positive Sentiment: Strong near-term fundamentals — Zacks previews WDC’s fiscal Q2 outlook (revenue guidance and demand from data centers/high-capacity drives) suggesting upside vs. consensus, supporting bullish positioning into earnings. Western Digital’s Q2 Earnings on Deck: Is the Stock Worth Buying Now?
• Positive Sentiment: Broker upgrades/sector calls — BNP Paribas and other outlets are raising targets and recommending memory/storage names (including WDC) as beneficiaries of sustained price strength, which supports analyst-driven buying interest. 4 Memory Chip Stocks to Buy as Prices Skyrocket
• Neutral Sentiment: Momentum/valuation questions — Coverage notes WDC (and Sandisk) have surged ~400% over the past year; some outlets ask whether the rally leaves less upside and urge caution on stretched multiples despite strong fundamentals. SanDisk and Western Digital are up 400 in 1 Year. Should You Still Buy?
• Negative Sentiment: Relative trade: Micron seen as preferable by some analysts — A Zacks piece argues Micron (MU) may offer more upside due to cheaper valuation and similar exposure to the memory tightness, which could pull some dollars away from WDC in comparative trade setups. Western Digital vs. Micron: Which Data Storage Stock Has More Upside?

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on WDC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Western Digital from $94.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Robert W. Baird set a $180.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Evercore ISI reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $230.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, January 16th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $180.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Finally, Wedbush upped their price target on Western Digital from $90.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $207.48.

Western Digital Stock Up 10.6%

The stock has a market cap of $95.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.70, a PEG ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 1.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 1.21. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $186.10 and its two-hundred day moving average is $133.32.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.21. Western Digital had a return on equity of 30.89% and a net margin of 21.37%.The business had revenue of $2.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.72 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.78 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Western Digital has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 1.730-2.030 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Western Digital Corporation will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Western Digital news, Director Roxanne Oulman sold 1,800 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.42, for a total transaction of $277,956.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 3,863 shares in the company, valued at approximately $596,524.46. The trade was a 31.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Kimberly Alexy sold 1,768 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.00, for a total transaction of $272,272.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 3,585 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $552,090. This represents a 33.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders sold 26,816 shares of company stock worth $4,116,148. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Western Digital

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of WDC. ORG Partners LLC grew its stake in Western Digital by 124.5% in the 3rd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 211 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Private Wealth Management Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Western Digital by 102.5% during the 2nd quarter. Private Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 399 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. boosted its stake in Western Digital by 4,070.0% in the second quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 417 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 407 shares in the last quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 86.9% in the 2nd quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 441 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. grew its stake in shares of Western Digital by 551.4% during the third quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 241 shares of the data storage provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 204 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Company Profile

Western Digital Corporation is a global data storage company that designs, manufactures and sells a broad range of storage devices and systems for personal, enterprise and cloud applications. Headquartered in San Jose, California, the company develops hard disk drives (HDDs), solid-state drives (SSDs), NAND flash components and finished storage products used in PCs, external storage, servers, network-attached storage (NAS) and embedded systems.

Its product portfolio spans consumer and commercial markets, including internal and external HDDs and SSDs, removable flash memory products and storage platforms for data center and enterprise environments.