Western Digital adds 3% on Q1 beat; Analyst reactions mixed

(Updated - May 9, 2023 5:17 AM EDT)

Investing.com -- Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ: WDC) beat revenue expectations and posted a narrower-than-expected loss for the fiscal third quarter.

Shares trade almost 3% higher in pre-market trading and are up 8.5% so far this year.

The company, which makes data storage devices, said third-quarter revenue was $2.8 billion, at the high end of its guidance range. The adjusted loss per share was $1.37, including $200 million of underutilization related charges in Flash and HDD, the company said.

Analysts expected the company to report a third-quarter adjusted loss per share of $1.57 on revenue of $2.7B. That was down from revenue of $4.38B in the same quarter last year.

Western Digital said to expect fiscal fourth quarter 2023 revenue to be in the range of $2.40B to $2.60B. That would be below expectations for $2.86B.

David Goeckeler, Western Digital CEO, said: “The groundwork we laid, combined with the actions we have taken since the beginning of this fiscal year to right-size and refocus our businesses, have enabled us to navigate a dynamic environment.”

Mizuho analyst Vijay Rakesh cut the price target by $5 to $45 per share buy reiterated a Buy rating.

"We believe WDC's NAND is bottoming with supply/capex cuts, though inventory remains an overhang, but 2H23 margins could see better trend recovery," the analyst said.

Goldman Sachs analyst Toshiya Hari is less positive as he believes NAND market headwinds and growing BS leverage will continue to weigh on the stock.

"While management is taking various steps (e.g. capex and production cuts in NAND, opex discipline) to counter near-term headwinds, we believe the combination of a challenging NAND supply/demand backdrop and a relatively fragile balance sheet will continue to weigh on the stock's relative performance," Hari wrote in a note.

Additional reporting by Senad Karaahmetovic

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