Wedbush Weighs in on Western Digital Co.’s Q1 2025 Earnings (NASDAQ:WDC)

Western Digital Co. (NASDAQ:WDC) – Analysts at Wedbush raised their Q1 2025 EPS estimates for Western Digital in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday, April 17th. Wedbush analyst M. Bryson now anticipates that the data storage provider will post earnings of $2.40 per share for the quarter, up from their previous forecast of $2.12. The consensus estimate for Western Digital’s current full-year earnings is ($2.31) per share. Wedbush also issued estimates for Western Digital’s Q3 2025 earnings at $3.22 EPS and Q4 2025 earnings at $3.49 EPS.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 29th. The data storage provider reported ($0.69) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($1.30) by $0.61. Western Digital had a negative net margin of 19.90% and a negative return on equity of 19.45%. The firm had revenue of $3.03 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.69) earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.4% on a year-over-year basis.

WDC has been the subject of a number of other research reports. TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $50.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Western Digital from $58.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. StockNews.com cut shares of Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Western Digital from $66.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of Western Digital from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $45.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $73.17.

Western Digital Trading Down 3.3 %

Shares of Western Digital stock opened at $66.05 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $63.71 and a 200-day moving average of $54.13. The stock has a market cap of $21.52 billion, a PE ratio of -9.26 and a beta of 1.57. Western Digital has a 52-week low of $31.97 and a 52-week high of $76.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.67.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in Western Digital by 93.1% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 20,663,972 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $651,948,000 after purchasing an additional 9,961,971 shares during the period. Nomura Holdings Inc. increased its position in Western Digital by 242.7% during the 1st quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 10,606,474 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $399,546,000 after purchasing an additional 7,511,896 shares during the period. Kodai Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of Western Digital in the 4th quarter worth $212,900,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in Western Digital in the 4th quarter worth about $150,958,000. Finally, Voya Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Western Digital by 1,332.0% during the 4th quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 1,554,153 shares of the data storage provider’s stock valued at $81,391,000 after acquiring an additional 1,445,625 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.51% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Western Digital news, Director Kimberly Alexy sold 2,648 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.95, for a total transaction of $185,227.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 20,509 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,434,604.55. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 443 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total value of $33,225.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 30,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,321,850. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Kimberly Alexy sold 2,648 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.95, for a total value of $185,227.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 20,509 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,434,604.55. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.28% of the company’s stock.

Western Digital Company Profile

Western Digital Corporation develops, manufactures, and sells data storage devices and solutions in the United States, China, Hong Kong, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, rest of Asia, and internationally. It offers client devices, including hard disk drives (HDDs) and solid state drives (SSDs) for desktop and notebook personal computers (PCs), gaming consoles, and set top boxes; and flash-based embedded storage products for mobile phones, tablets, notebook PCs, and other portable and wearable devices, as well as automotive, Internet of Things, industrial, and connected home applications.