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Western Digital (WDC) Competitors

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$68.82 -0.20 (-0.29%)
Closing price 04:00 PM Eastern
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$68.81 -0.01 (-0.02%)
As of 07:56 PM Eastern
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WDC vs. AMAT, KLAC, LRCX, MKSI, MU, STX, NTAP, SYNA, IMMR, and SMCI

Should you be buying Western Digital stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Western Digital include Applied Materials (AMAT), KLA (KLAC), Lam Research (LRCX), MKS (MKSI), Micron Technology (MU), Seagate Technology (STX), NetApp (NTAP), Synaptics (SYNA), Immersion (IMMR), and Super Micro Computer (SMCI). These companies are all part of the "computer and technology" sector.

Western Digital vs. Its Competitors

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) and Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) are both large-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their media sentiment, profitability, institutional ownership, dividends, risk, earnings, analyst recommendations and valuation.

Applied Materials has higher revenue and earnings than Western Digital. Western Digital is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Applied Materials, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

CompanyGross RevenuePrice/Sales RatioNet IncomeEarnings Per SharePrice/Earnings Ratio
Western Digital$13.00B1.85-$798M$5.2813.03
Applied Materials$27.18B5.48$7.18B$8.2222.59

Applied Materials has a net margin of 24.06% compared to Western Digital's net margin of 13.33%. Applied Materials' return on equity of 40.15% beat Western Digital's return on equity.

Company Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets
Western Digital13.33% 20.58% 9.01%
Applied Materials 24.06%40.15%22.42%

Western Digital pays an annual dividend of $0.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.6%. Applied Materials pays an annual dividend of $1.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.0%. Western Digital pays out 7.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Applied Materials pays out 22.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Applied Materials has increased its dividend for 8 consecutive years. Applied Materials is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

In the previous week, Applied Materials had 33 more articles in the media than Western Digital. MarketBeat recorded 51 mentions for Applied Materials and 18 mentions for Western Digital. Applied Materials' average media sentiment score of 1.31 beat Western Digital's score of 0.76 indicating that Applied Materials is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company Very Positive Positive Neutral Negative Very Negative Overall Sentiment
Western Digital
10 Very Positive mention(s)
1 Positive mention(s)
5 Neutral mention(s)
0 Negative mention(s)
0 Very Negative mention(s)
Positive
Applied Materials
40 Very Positive mention(s)
4 Positive mention(s)
6 Neutral mention(s)
0 Negative mention(s)
0 Very Negative mention(s)
Positive

92.5% of Western Digital shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 80.6% of Applied Materials shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.3% of Western Digital shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of Applied Materials shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Western Digital has a beta of 1.54, indicating that its stock price is 54% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Applied Materials has a beta of 1.69, indicating that its stock price is 69% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Western Digital currently has a consensus price target of $66.84, suggesting a potential downside of 2.87%. Applied Materials has a consensus price target of $204.74, suggesting a potential upside of 10.26%. Given Applied Materials' higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Applied Materials is more favorable than Western Digital.

Company Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score
Western Digital
0 Sell rating(s)
3 Hold rating(s)
18 Buy rating(s)
0 Strong Buy rating(s)
2.86
Applied Materials
0 Sell rating(s)
8 Hold rating(s)
17 Buy rating(s)
0 Strong Buy rating(s)
2.68

Summary

Applied Materials beats Western Digital on 14 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.

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New MarketBeat Followers Over Time

This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding WDC and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
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Media Sentiment Over Time

This chart shows the average media sentiment of NASDAQ and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.
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WDC vs. The Competition

MetricWestern DigitalCOMP IndustryComputer SectorNASDAQ Exchange
Market Cap$24.08B$10.83B$29.00B$9.51B
Dividend Yield0.58%1.29%3.02%4.01%
P/E Ratio13.0333.0434.2120.06
Price / Sales1.852.651,729.8890.60
Price / Cash80.2038.3438.3858.56
Price / Book2.0810.407.795.87
Net Income-$798M$183.90M$782.91M$258.55M
7 Day Performance1.21%-1.16%0.96%2.23%
1 Month Performance10.02%7.54%7.50%12.76%
1 Year Performance3.50%-1.73%53,041.27%19.36%

Western Digital Competitors List

CompanyMarketRankShare PriceAnalysts' Price Target1Y Price PerformanceMarket CapRevenueP/E RatioEmployee CountIndicator(s)
WDC
Western Digital
4.7845 of 5 stars
$68.82
-0.3%
$66.84
-2.9%
-4.2%$24.08B$13.00B13.0351,000Upcoming Earnings
AMAT
Applied Materials
4.9555 of 5 stars
$192.56
+1.1%
$204.74
+6.3%
-8.9%$154.53B$27.18B23.4335,700Positive News
KLAC
KLA
4.6483 of 5 stars
$938.73
+0.8%
$852.56
-9.2%
+19.6%$124.38B$9.81B34.1915,230Positive News
Upcoming Earnings
LRCX
Lam Research
4.3942 of 5 stars
$101.77
+1.1%
$100.57
-1.2%
+7.5%$130.17B$14.91B28.3617,450Positive News
Upcoming Earnings
MKSI
MKS
4.74 of 5 stars
$103.45
-1.2%
$118.80
+14.8%
-19.3%$6.98B$3.65B30.8810,200Analyst Forecast
MU
Micron Technology
4.9774 of 5 stars
$113.23
-1.0%
$146.44
+29.3%
+1.3%$126.71B$33.81B20.4048,000Positive News
Insider Trade
STX
Seagate Technology
4.502 of 5 stars
$149.72
+0.4%
$133.68
-10.7%
+39.4%$31.74B$6.55B21.6130,000Positive News
Upcoming Earnings
NTAP
NetApp
4.728 of 5 stars
$107.59
-0.7%
$118.86
+10.5%
-16.7%$21.47B$6.57B18.8711,700Positive News
Insider Trade
SYNA
Synaptics
3.6492 of 5 stars
$67.31
+1.6%
$93.75
+39.3%
-24.5%$2.59B$959.40M16.301,716
IMMR
Immersion
3.7954 of 5 stars
$7.18
-8.6%
$12.25
+70.7%
-44.0%$232.44M$163.13M2.5820
SMCI
Super Micro Computer
4.1989 of 5 stars
$51.49
-0.5%
$42.89
-16.7%
-26.2%$30.87B$14.94B27.215,684Trending News

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This page (NASDAQ:WDC) was last updated on 7/25/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff
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