Western Digital Beats Profit Forecasts, Yet Shares Dip Before the Bell

what happened

According to GuruFocus, Western Digital posted adjusted earnings of $4.64 per share for its fiscal first quarter, beating the $4.11 analyst consensus. Revenue reached $4.38 billion, up 55% year over year and above the $4.14 billion projection.

Adjusted gross margin rose to 58.1% from 43.9% a year earlier, while operating margin hit 49.1%. CFO Kris Sennesael pointed to strong exabyte shipments and better pricing. Free cash flow came in at $1.38 billion, the company bought back $1.0 billion of stock, and the quarterly dividend was lifted 17% to $0.175 per share.

For the coming quarter, the company expects revenue of $5.1 billion, give or take $100 million, implying growth of 66% to 72%. Gross margin is projected at 60% to 61%, with EPS of $5.80, plus or minus $0.20. CEO Irving Tan told analysts that visibility into demand from its seven largest customers extends to 2030 and 2031. Shares fell 2.87% in premarket trading.

why it matters

Strong margins and cash generation point to sustained demand for data-storage hardware, while the premarket decline suggests investors were weighing these results against already high expectations.

market impact

WDC and data-storage peers: strong results and outlook support the business, but premarket shares dipped.

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