Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) Issues Q3 2026 Earnings Guidance

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) updated its third quarter 2026 earnings guidance on Friday. The company provided earnings per share (EPS) guidance of 2.150-2.450 for the period, compared to the consensus estimate of 1.940. The company issued revenue guidance of $3.1 billion-$3.3 billion, compared to the consensus revenue estimate of $3.0 billion.

Western Digital Price Performance

Western Digital stock opened at $278.41 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $95.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.33 and a beta of 1.78. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $191.38 and its 200 day moving average is $135.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 0.94. Western Digital has a one year low of $28.83 and a one year high of $285.42.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported $2.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.93 by $0.20. Western Digital had a return on equity of 30.89% and a net margin of 21.37%.The firm had revenue of $3.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.93 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.77 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Western Digital will post 4.89 EPS for the current year.

Western Digital Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.125 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 5th. This represents a $0.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. Western Digital’s dividend payout ratio is presently 7.28%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WDC has been the subject of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Western Digital to $260.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Western Digital in a report on Monday, December 29th. Evercore ISI restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $230.00 target price on shares of Western Digital in a report on Friday, January 16th. Barclays set a $325.00 target price on Western Digital in a research report on Friday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $165.00 price target on shares of Western Digital in a research report on Friday, January 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $220.10.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Cynthia L. Tregillis sold 447 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $229.00, for a total value of $102,363.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 143,318 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,819,822. The trade was a 0.31% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Kimberly Alexy sold 1,768 shares of Western Digital 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 completion of the sale, the director directly owned 3,585 shares in the company, valued at approximately $552,090. This represents a 33.03% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 26,816 shares of company stock valued at $4,116,148. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Key Headlines Impacting Western Digital

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

• Positive Sentiment: WDC beat Q2 estimates on both EPS and revenue and posted strong margins — reported EPS $2.13 vs. ~$1.93 consensus and revenue $3.02B vs. ~$2.93B; revenue was up ~25% YoY, and net margin/ROE were robust, signaling profitable demand recovery. MarketBeat Earnings Summary
• Positive Sentiment: Company raised Q3 (fiscal) guidance well above Street expectations — EPS guide $2.15–$2.45 (consensus ~$1.94) and revenue guide $3.1B–$3.3B (consensus ~$3.0B), implying continued strong AI and data-center demand that supports further upside. Reuters Guidance Story
• Positive Sentiment: Management highlights AI-driven storage demand and delivered a sizable profit (WSJ noted profit of $1.84B), reinforcing the narrative that enterprise/AI spending is lifting HDD and flash pricing and utilization. WSJ Profit Coverage
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and market outlets are upping estimates and noting inventory improvements and beat-and-raise dynamics; press and analyst pieces point to momentum similar to peers (Seagate), which helped spark the rally. Zacks Earnings Note
• Neutral Sentiment: WDC declared a quarterly dividend of $0.125/share (yield ~0.2%), payable Mar. 18 with record/ex-dividend date Mar. 5 — a small income signal but not material to growth thesis.
• Neutral Sentiment: Company released its earnings press release, slide deck and call transcript for deeper due diligence — useful for investors wanting detail on product mix, ASPs and backlog. BusinessWire Release
• Negative Sentiment: Some market commentary warns the name is extended/overbought after the run-up (and Jim Cramer warned against “chasing” storage plays), which raises near-term pullback risk despite strong results. Barchart Overbought Note InsiderMonkey Cramer Comment

Institutional Trading of Western Digital

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sivia Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Western Digital in the 2nd quarter worth about $307,000. Scotia Capital Inc. bought a new position in Western Digital during the third quarter worth about $280,000. Sender Co & Partners Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Western Digital in the second quarter worth about $277,000. Evergreen Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Western Digital in the second quarter valued at approximately $265,000. Finally, Shelton Capital Management bought a new position in Western Digital in the 3rd quarter worth about $230,000. 92.51% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Western Digital

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.