Western Digital (WDC) ended the recent trading session at $181.54, demonstrating a +1.1% change from the preceding day's closing price. The stock's change was more than the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.03%. On the other hand, the Dow registered a loss of 0.04%, and the technology-centric Nasdaq decreased by 0.09%.
Shares of the maker of hard drives for businesses and personal computers witnessed a gain of 13.83% over the previous month, beating the performance of the Computer and Technology sector with its gain of 1.66%, and the S&P 500's gain of 2.57%.
Analysts and investors alike will be keeping a close eye on the performance of Western Digital in its upcoming earnings disclosure. It is anticipated that the company will report an EPS of $1.92, marking a 8.47% rise compared to the same quarter of the previous year. Simultaneously, our latest consensus estimate expects the revenue to be $2.91 billion, showing a 32% drop compared to the year-ago quarter.
WDC's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $7.66 per share and revenue of $11.67 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of +55.38% and -12.14%, respectively.
Investors should also take note of any recent adjustments to analyst estimates for Western Digital. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the business outlook.
Our research reveals that these estimate alterations are directly linked with the stock price performance in the near future. To exploit this, we've formed the Zacks Rank, a quantitative model that includes these estimate changes and presents a viable rating system.
Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has remained steady. At present, Western Digital boasts a Zacks Rank of #1 (Strong Buy).
Valuation is also important, so investors should note that Western Digital has a Forward P/E ratio of 23.45 right now. This indicates a premium in contrast to its industry's Forward P/E of 17.06.
We can also see that WDC currently has a PEG ratio of 1.03. Comparable to the widely accepted P/E ratio, the PEG ratio also accounts for the company's projected earnings growth. As of the close of trade yesterday, the Computer- Storage Devices industry held an average PEG ratio of 1.96.
The Computer- Storage Devices industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This industry, currently bearing a Zacks Industry Rank of 21, finds itself in the top 9% echelons of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank assesses the strength of our separate industry groups by calculating the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks contained within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
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Western Digital Corporation (WDC): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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