WDC vs. AMAT, LRCX, MKSI, MU, STX, NTAP, SYNA, IMMR, IVAC, and SMCI
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), Intevac (IVAC), 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 business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, institutional ownership, media sentiment, earnings, risk, analyst recommendations, dividends 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.
Western Digital currently has a consensus target price of $63.79, indicating a potential downside of 3.20%. Applied Materials has a consensus target price of $200.76, indicating a potential upside of 5.19%. Given Applied Materials' higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Applied Materials is more favorable than Western Digital.
In the previous week, Applied Materials had 30 more articles in the media than Western Digital. MarketBeat recorded 47 mentions for Applied Materials and 17 mentions for Western Digital. Applied Materials' average media sentiment score of 1.28 beat Western Digital's score of 0.63 indicating that Applied Materials is being referred to more favorably in the news media.
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 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.
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 insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of Applied Materials shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock 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.
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.
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.
Skip ChartMedia 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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Western Digital Competitors List
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This page (NASDAQ:WDC) was last updated on 7/5/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff