Western Digital shares rose 4.5% after earnings as revenue growth and margin expansion outperformed expectations, with management highlighting sequential and year-over-year gains across cloud, consumer, and client segments. Investors responded positively to gross margin expansion above 50% and a nearly doubled EPS versus the prior year.
- Sequential and year-over-year revenue growth was driven by strong execution across all business lines, including cloud, consumer, and client.
- Gross margin surpassed 50%, attributed to higher capacity drives and increased adoption of UltraSMR products.
- EPS nearly doubled compared to last year, supported by operating leverage, lower interest expense, and tax efficiency.
- High-capacity drive product road map extended through 44-terabyte HAMR and 40-terabyte ePMR, with customer qualifications underway and volume production targeted for the second half of 2026.
- Management noted increasing demand visibility, citing multi-year agreements and robust uptake of new storage technology within hyperscaler and enterprise markets.
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