Cantor Fitzgerald Predicts Western Digital FY2026 Earnings

Key Points

• Cantor Fitzgerald raised their FY2026 earnings per share (EPS) estimate for Western Digital from $5.15 to $5.81, surpassing the consensus estimate of $4.89.
• Western Digital announced a quarterly dividend of $0.10 per share and initiated a stock repurchase program allowing for the buyback of $2.00 billion in shares, indicating confidence in the stock's value.
• The stock currently holds an average rating of "Moderate Buy" with a consensus price target of $78.74 from market analysts, despite a recent stock price decline of 2.7%.

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC - Free Report) - Equities research analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald raised their FY2026 earnings estimates for Western Digital in a research report issued on Thursday, July 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald analyst C. Muse now forecasts that the data storage provider will post earnings of $5.81 per share for the year, up from their prior estimate of $5.15. The consensus estimate for Western Digital's current full-year earnings is $4.89 per share.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on WDC. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Western Digital from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Loop Capital reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Western Digital in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Western Digital from $75.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Western Digital from $78.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Western Digital from $85.00 to $83.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eighteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Western Digital has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $78.74.

Western Digital Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of NASDAQ WDC traded up $0.48 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $74.26. The company had a trading volume of 3,338,514 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,014,136. Western Digital has a 12-month low of $28.83 and a 12-month high of $78.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 1.08. The company has a market capitalization of $25.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.41, a PEG ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 1.58. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $63.67 and a two-hundred day moving average of $54.13.

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The data storage provider reported $1.66 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.48 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $2.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.45 billion. Western Digital had a net margin of 14.13% and a return on equity of 24.93%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 30.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.44 earnings per share.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Western Digital

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in WDC. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Western Digital by 1.1% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 42,938,495 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $1,736,003,000 after acquiring an additional 478,728 shares in the last quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. grew its position in Western Digital by 130.0% in the first quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 5,029,359 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $203,337,000 after acquiring an additional 2,842,822 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in shares of Western Digital by 23.7% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 4,592,516 shares of the data storage provider's stock worth $273,852,000 after purchasing an additional 881,088 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in Western Digital by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,449,811 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $139,476,000 after acquiring an additional 52,140 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG boosted its position in Western Digital by 107.1% in the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 3,369,331 shares of the data storage provider's stock valued at $136,222,000 after buying an additional 1,742,481 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 92.51% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Western Digital news, CEO Irving Tan sold 11,379 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.19, for a total value of $548,354.01. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 605,481 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $29,178,129.39. The trade was a 1.84% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Gene M. Zamiska sold 1,729 shares of Western Digital stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.88, for a total value of $94,887.52. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 40,089 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,200,084.32. This trade represents a 4.13% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 13,353 shares of company stock valued at $657,454 over the last 90 days. 0.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Western Digital announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Tuesday, May 13th that allows the company to repurchase $2.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the data storage provider to repurchase up to 11.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Western Digital Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 4th will be issued a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 4th. Western Digital's dividend payout ratio is presently 7.77%.

About Western Digital

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.