WDC vs. NTAP, SYNA, IMMR, IVAC, SMCI, PSTG, TDC, GSIT, QMCO, and CRWV
Should you be buying Western Digital stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Western Digital include NetApp (NTAP), Synaptics (SYNA), Immersion (IMMR), Intevac (IVAC), Super Micro Computer (SMCI), Pure Storage (PSTG), Teradata (TDC), GSI Technology (GSIT), Quantum (QMCO), and CoreWeave (CRWV). These companies are all part of the "computer and technology" sector.
Western Digital vs. Its Competitors
Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) and NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) are both large-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, profitability, dividends, media sentiment, institutional ownership, valuation, earnings and analyst recommendations.
Western Digital presently has a consensus price target of $63.79, indicating a potential downside of 0.14%. NetApp has a consensus price target of $117.79, indicating a potential upside of 9.97%. Given NetApp's higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe NetApp is more favorable than Western Digital.
NetApp has a net margin of 18.05% compared to Western Digital's net margin of 13.33%. NetApp's return on equity of 126.96% beat Western Digital's return on equity.
In the previous week, NetApp had 16 more articles in the media than Western Digital. MarketBeat recorded 30 mentions for NetApp and 14 mentions for Western Digital. NetApp's average media sentiment score of 1.10 beat Western Digital's score of 0.52 indicating that NetApp is being referred to more favorably in the news media.
92.5% of Western Digital shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.2% of NetApp shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.3% of Western Digital shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of NetApp shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
NetApp has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Western Digital. Western Digital is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than NetApp, 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 0.6%. NetApp pays an annual dividend of $2.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.9%. Western Digital pays out 7.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. NetApp pays out 36.6% 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. NetApp has raised its dividend for 1 consecutive years. NetApp is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.
Western Digital has a beta of 1.48, suggesting that its stock price is 48% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, NetApp has a beta of 1.42, suggesting that its stock price is 42% more volatile than the S&P 500.
Summary
NetApp beats Western Digital on 13 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.
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 7/1/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff
