Western Digital Corporation (WDC), headquartered in San Jose, California, develops, manufactures, and sells data storage devices and solutions. With a market cap of $187.8 billion, the company's products include hard drives, solid-state drives, and home entertainment and networking products.
Shares of this leading supplier of data storage solutions have substantially outperformed the broader market over the past year. WDC has gained 582% over this time frame, while the broader S&P 500 Index ($SPX) has rallied nearly 17.7%. In 2026, WDC stock is up 203.1%, surpassing the SPX’s 9.4% rise on a YTD basis.
More Top Stocks Daily: Go behind Wall Street’s hottest headlines with Barchart’s Active Investor newsletter.
Zooming in further, WDC’s outperformance is also apparent compared to the State Street Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLK). The exchange-traded fund has gained about 36% over the past year. Moreover, WDC’s triple-digit gains on a YTD basis outshine the ETF’s 21.4% returns over the same time frame.
www.barchart.com Western Digital has significantly outperformed over the past year due to soaring hyperscaler demand for high-capacity enterprise hard drives driven by AI data center expansion, massive gross margin expansion fueled by disciplined pricing and production, and strong market enthusiasm surrounding its strategic plan to separate its HDD and Flash memory (NAND) businesses to unlock distinct, pure-play shareholder value.
For the current fiscal year, ended in June, analysts expect WDC’s EPS to grow 112.1% to $9.61 on a diluted basis. The company’s earnings surprise history is impressive. It beat the consensus estimates in each of the last four quarters.
Among the 25 analysts covering WDC stock, the consensus is a “Strong Buy.” That’s based on 20 “Strong Buy” ratings, one “Moderate Buy,” and four “Holds.”
www.barchart.com This configuration is more bullish than two months ago, with 21 analysts suggesting a “Strong Buy.”
On Jul. 28, Rosenblatt Securities analyst Kevin Cassidy reiterated a “Buy” rating on WDC and set a price target of $900, implying a potential upside of 65.2% from current levels.
The mean price target of $641.83 represents a 17.8% premium to WDC’s current price levels. The Street-high price target of $1,050 suggests an ambitious upside potential of 92.7%.
On the date of publication, Neha Panjwani did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. For more information please view the Barchart Disclosure Policy here.
More news from Barchart
A $1.6 Billion Reason to Buy SpaceX Stock Now The US Just Intervened in Japan’s Markets. Why Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent Says the Yen Crisis Might Not Be Over – ‘We Will Not Hesitate’ Surging Short Interest in SpaceX Stock Sends Strong Signal to Wall Street Circle’s Trust Charter Approval Sends a Key Signal to Wall Street