Western Digital
WDCMarket price data through October 22, 2026.
Performance
Oct 2021 – Oct 2026
Track record
How this pick has done since Benson first called it.
- Benson Return
- -9%
- How much this stock is up since Benson first picked it — measured from the price at the time of that first pick, not from today.
- First pick price
- ~$389
- Roughly what one share cost when Benson first picked this stock. This is the starting line for the Benson Return.
- Tracking since
- April 2026
- The month this stock first became a Benson pick.
- Tracking duration
- 6 months
- How long Benson has been tracking this pick.
About Western Digital
Western Digital makes the giant hard drives that store the world's data. After spinning off its flash memory business, it is a pure play on the high capacity drives that fill cloud and AI data centers. Think of it as the company building the filing cabinets where everything artificial intelligence creates gets stored.
The case for and against
Both sides of the story, in plain English.
- Gaining Speed
Revenue hit 4.38 billion dollars this quarter, up 55% from a year ago, and management expects about 5.1 billion next quarter. Growth is getting faster, not slower. The company also keeps about 58 cents of every sales dollar after building its drives, up from 44 cents a year ago.
- Cash Machine
Western Digital brought in 1.6 billion dollars of cash in three months and kept 1.38 billion after paying for new equipment. It spent about 1 billion of that buying back its own shares and raised its quarterly dividend 17% to 17.5 cents.
- Cloud Concentration
Most sales come from a small group of giant cloud and data center buyers, and the company lists that as one of its top risks. Next quarter's forecast of 66% to 72% growth only happens if those few customers keep spending at full speed. If even one of them pauses, growth could cool off in a hurry.
- Boom Bust Cycle
Storage has always swung between boom and bust, and this boom is huge. The company's stock of unsold drives grew 18% to 1.78 billion dollars in a single quarter, which is fine while demand is hot but painful if it cools. The stock also tends to swing about twice as hard as the overall market, in both directions.
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How to read this page
This automated research summary uses Financial Modeling Prep market data through 2026-10-22. Model signals, scores, and risk labels can change and may be incomplete or wrong.
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