WDC vs. NTAP, SYNA, IMMR, IVAC, STX, PSTG, QMCO, CARR, ADSK, and ROP
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), Seagate Technology (STX), Pure Storage (PSTG), Quantum (QMCO), Carrier Global (CARR), Autodesk (ADSK), and Roper Technologies (ROP). These companies are all part of the "computer and technology" sector.
Western Digital vs.
Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) and NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) 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 dividends, institutional ownership, analyst recommendations, valuation, media sentiment, profitability, earnings, risk and community ranking.
Western Digital pays an annual dividend of $0.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.8%. NetApp pays an annual dividend of $2.08 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.0%. Western Digital pays out 7.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. NetApp pays out 38.5% 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 1.42, suggesting that its share price is 42% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, NetApp has a beta of 1.4, suggesting that its share price is 40% more volatile than the S&P 500.
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.
92.5% of Western Digital shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 92.2% of NetApp shares are held by institutional investors. 0.3% of Western Digital shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 0.5% of NetApp shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
NetApp has a net margin of 17.78% compared to Western Digital's net margin of 9.95%. NetApp's return on equity of 123.63% beat Western Digital's return on equity.
In the previous week, NetApp had 5 more articles in the media than Western Digital. MarketBeat recorded 36 mentions for NetApp and 31 mentions for Western Digital. NetApp's average media sentiment score of 1.25 beat Western Digital's score of 0.97 indicating that NetApp is being referred to more favorably in the news media.
Western Digital presently has a consensus target price of $64.15, indicating a potential upside of 25.62%. NetApp has a consensus target price of $121.40, indicating a potential upside of 19.55%. Given Western Digital's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities analysts plainly believe Western Digital is more favorable than NetApp.
Western Digital received 939 more outperform votes than NetApp when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 73.92% of users gave Western Digital an outperform vote while only 53.40% of users gave NetApp an outperform vote.
Summary
NetApp beats Western Digital on 12 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.
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New MarketBeat Followers Over Time
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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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This page (NASDAQ:WDC) was last updated on 5/21/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff
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