Back to top

Image: Bigstock

Western Digital (WDC) Declines More Than Market: Some Information for Investors

Read MoreHide Full Article

The latest trading session saw Western Digital (WDC - Free Report) ending at $59.62, denoting a -1.78% adjustment from its last day's close. The stock's change was less than the S&P 500's daily loss of 1.07%. Meanwhile, the Dow lost 0.97%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, lost 1.19%.

The maker of hard drives for businesses and personal computers's stock has dropped by 16.84% in the past month, falling short of the Computer and Technology sector's gain of 4.8% and the S&P 500's loss of 0.36%.

Analysts and investors alike will be keeping a close eye on the performance of Western Digital in its upcoming earnings disclosure. It is anticipated that the company will report an EPS of $1.87, marking a 371.01% rise compared to the same quarter of the previous year. Meanwhile, the latest consensus estimate predicts the revenue to be $4.28 billion, indicating a 41.08% increase compared to the same quarter of the previous year.

In terms of the entire fiscal year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates predict earnings of $7.14 per share and a revenue of $16.64 billion, indicating changes of +3670% and +27.99%, respectively, from the former year.

Investors might also notice recent changes to analyst estimates for Western Digital. Such recent modifications usually signify the changing landscape of near-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. To exploit this, we've formed the Zacks Rank, a quantitative model that includes these estimate changes and presents a viable rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), possesses a remarkable history of outdoing, externally audited, with #1 stocks returning an average annual gain of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 4.52% lower. Western Digital is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #5 (Strong Sell).

With respect to valuation, Western Digital is currently being traded at a Forward P/E ratio of 8.5. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 13.61, which means Western Digital is trading at a discount to the group.

The Computer- Storage Devices industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 218, which puts it in the bottom 14% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank evaluates the power of our distinct industry groups by determining the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks forming the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Don't forget to use Zacks.com to keep track of all these stock-moving metrics, and others, in the upcoming trading sessions.


See More Zacks Research for These Tickers


Normally $25 each - click below to receive one report FREE:


Western Digital Corporation (WDC) - free report >>

Published in