Western Digital: Is the Storage Sector Set for a Rebound?

From Nasdaq: 2025-05-04 07:55:00

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ: WDC) impressed investors with its Q3 2025 earnings report, surpassing profit expectations and issuing a strong outlook. The company’s upbeat forecast for Q4, along with the initiation of a quarterly dividend, led to a surge in its stock price, signaling improving fundamentals post-separation from its flash memory business.

The primary driver behind Western Digital’s positive outlook was its revenue projection for Q4, set between $2.30 billion and $2.60 billion, exceeding analyst estimates. The company also forecasted non-GAAP earnings per share in the range of $1.25 to $1.65, reflecting confidence in revenue stability and profitability. Non-GAAP gross margin is expected to remain strong between 40.0% and 41.0%.

Western Digital’s Q3 performance was driven by strong demand from the Cloud segment, representing 87% of total revenue. Revenue from cloud customers increased by 38% year-over-year, reflecting the growing need for high-capacity storage solutions in the data-intensive fields of AI and cloud computing. The company’s strategic focus positions it well to meet this rising demand.

In a significant move, Western Digital initiated a quarterly cash dividend program starting in Q4, with an initial dividend of $0.10 per share. This decision underscores the company’s confidence in its business model, free cash flow generation, and commitment to returning capital to shareholders. The dividend program signals financial stability and a positive outlook for the HDD-focused company.

Following the positive earnings report, analysts expressed optimism about Western Digital’s future prospects, with several firms reiterating positive stances or issuing upgrades. The company’s strong Q3 performance, robust Q4 guidance, and dividend initiation contributed to the analysts’ positive outlook and reinforced the company’s leading position in the data storage sector. Western Digital Corp (NASDAQ: WDC) reported a 3% increase in revenue for the first quarter of fiscal year 2021, reaching $4.29 billion. The company exceeded Wall Street expectations of $4.25 billion. Despite challenges posed by the pandemic, Western Digital’s strong performance was driven by increased demand for data storage solutions.



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