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Western Digital (WDC) Competitors

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$92.04 +1.55 (+1.71%)
Closing price 04:00 PM Eastern
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$92.08 +0.03 (+0.04%)
As of 05:30 PM Eastern
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WDC vs. AMAT, LRCX, MKSI, MU, STX, NTAP, SYNA, IMMR, SMCI, and PSTG

Should you be buying Western Digital stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Western Digital include Applied Materials (AMAT), Lam Research (LRCX), MKS (MKSI), Micron Technology (MU), Seagate Technology (STX), NetApp (NTAP), Synaptics (SYNA), Immersion (IMMR), Super Micro Computer (SMCI), and Pure Storage (PSTG). 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 investment? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, media sentiment, earnings, dividends, analyst recommendations, risk, valuation and institutional ownership.

Applied Materials has a net margin of 23.88% compared to Western Digital's net margin of 14.13%. Applied Materials' return on equity of 40.96% beat Western Digital's return on equity.

Company Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets
Western Digital14.13% 24.93% 10.59%
Applied Materials 23.88%40.96%22.99%

Western Digital presently has a consensus price target of $79.28, suggesting a potential downside of 13.87%. Applied Materials has a consensus price target of $193.88, suggesting a potential upside of 19.13%. 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)
17 Buy rating(s)
1 Strong Buy rating(s)
2.90
Applied Materials
1 Sell rating(s)
13 Hold rating(s)
17 Buy rating(s)
0 Strong Buy rating(s)
2.52

In the previous week, Applied Materials had 22 more articles in the media than Western Digital. MarketBeat recorded 45 mentions for Applied Materials and 23 mentions for Western Digital. Applied Materials' average media sentiment score of 1.28 beat Western Digital's score of 1.18 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
16 Very Positive mention(s)
3 Positive mention(s)
3 Neutral mention(s)
0 Negative mention(s)
0 Very Negative mention(s)
Positive
Applied Materials
30 Very Positive mention(s)
0 Positive mention(s)
4 Neutral mention(s)
1 Negative mention(s)
0 Very Negative mention(s)
Positive

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$9.52B3.37$1.89B$5.1517.87
Applied Materials$27.18B4.77$7.18B$8.3919.40

Western Digital pays an annual dividend of $0.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.4%. Applied Materials pays an annual dividend of $1.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. Western Digital pays out 7.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Applied Materials pays out 21.9% 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.

Western Digital has a beta of 1.69, meaning that its share price is 69% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Applied Materials has a beta of 1.77, meaning that its share price is 77% more volatile than the S&P 500.

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

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$32.11B$12.01B$30.57B$9.93B
Dividend Yield0.47%1.13%3.16%4.52%
P/E Ratio17.8744.79439.0826.68
Price / Sales3.372.782,193.20213.18
Price / Cash14.2129.6636.1158.92
Price / Book6.0511.937.036.09
Net Income$1.89B$462.72M$808.51M$266.14M
7 Day Performance14.56%2.67%-0.28%0.27%
1 Month Performance21.36%9.73%3.00%4.13%
1 Year Performance47.01%47.40%24,114.20%23.92%

Western Digital Competitors List

CompanyMarketRankShare PriceAnalysts' Price Target1Y Price PerformanceMarket CapRevenueP/E RatioEmployee CountIndicator(s)
WDC
Western Digital
4.5249 of 5 stars
$92.04
+1.7%
$79.28
-13.9%
+43.7%$32.11B$9.52B17.8740,000Positive News
Analyst Forecast
Options Volume
Gap Up
High Trading Volume
AMAT
Applied Materials
4.8729 of 5 stars
$161.99
-0.3%
$193.88
+19.7%
-13.2%$130.00B$28.61B19.3135,700Trending News
Analyst Revision
LRCX
Lam Research
4.3819 of 5 stars
$101.28
+1.2%
$107.30
+5.9%
+31.4%$128.18B$18.44B24.3519,000Positive News
Analyst Forecast
MKSI
MKS
4.8585 of 5 stars
$106.22
+1.1%
$119.80
+12.8%
-6.5%$7.13B$3.59B26.9610,200Positive News
MU
Micron Technology
4.8021 of 5 stars
$116.42
-1.1%
$147.24
+26.5%
+39.1%$130.29B$25.11B20.9848,000Positive News
Insider Trade
Gap Up
STX
Seagate Technology
4.5321 of 5 stars
$164.01
+3.0%
$151.44
-7.7%
+82.6%$34.88B$9.10B24.2330,000Positive News
NTAP
NetApp
4.501 of 5 stars
$111.01
+0.4%
$119.64
+7.8%
-0.2%$22.24B$6.57B19.5411,700
SYNA
Synaptics
3.2866 of 5 stars
$70.39
-1.5%
$91.33
+29.8%
-6.6%$2.71B$1.07B-58.171,700Positive News
IMMR
Immersion
3.5001 of 5 stars
$6.86
-2.8%
$12.25
+78.6%
-20.5%$222.26M$33.92M2.4720Positive News
SMCI
Super Micro Computer
4.7379 of 5 stars
$44.07
+0.4%
$44.75
+1.5%
-3.9%$26.30B$21.97B26.555,684Positive News
PSTG
Pure Storage
4.4318 of 5 stars
$59.06
+1.3%
$70.11
+18.7%
+65.9%$19.30B$3.25B159.636,000Trending News
Analyst Forecast
Insider Trade

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This page (NASDAQ:WDC) was last updated on 9/5/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff
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