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 businesses based on the strength of their risk, analyst recommendations, profitability, dividends, valuation, institutional ownership, media sentiment and earnings.
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.
Western Digital pays an annual dividend of $0.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.3%. Applied Materials pays an annual dividend of $1.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. 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 raised 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 presently has a consensus price target of $91.47, suggesting a potential downside of 30.34%. Applied Materials has a consensus price target of $195.12, suggesting a potential downside of 10.30%. Given Applied Materials' higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Applied Materials is more favorable than Western Digital.
Western Digital has a beta of 1.77, meaning that its stock price is 77% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Applied Materials has a beta of 1.82, meaning that its stock price is 82% more volatile than the S&P 500.
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.
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 hedge funds, large money managers and endowments believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.
In the previous week, Applied Materials had 47 more articles in the media than Western Digital. MarketBeat recorded 81 mentions for Applied Materials and 34 mentions for Western Digital. Western Digital's average media sentiment score of 1.01 beat Applied Materials' score of 0.92 indicating that Western Digital is being referred to more favorably in the media.
Summary
Applied Materials beats Western Digital on 13 of the 18 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.
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.
Western Digital Competitors List
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This page (NASDAQ:WDC) was last updated on 10/6/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff
