Western Digital Rises Ahead of Earnings as Investors Bet on Strong Storage Demand

2026-10-21

Investivoq PriceTracker

Western Digital Corporation (WDC) is up 4.5% today. Here is some analysis on what might have caused this price movement.

Analysis: The most likely driver is growing optimism ahead of Western Digital’s October 22, 2026 fiscal first-quarter earnings report. Investors may also be reacting to the company’s recent strong results, upbeat growth outlook, and continued signs that AI-related data storage demand is supporting the HDD market.

Details:

Western Digital has scheduled its fiscal Q1 2027 earnings call for October 22, which can pull in buyers when expectations are constructive.

In its most recent quarterly release, the company said fiscal Q1 2027 revenue was expected to rise 42% to 49% year over year, signaling that management entered the quarter with strong momentum.

Western Digital’s last reported quarter showed revenue up 44% year over year, expanding margins, and more than $1 billion in free cash flow, reinforcing the view that fundamentals have improved materially.

The company’s annual report highlighted accelerating cloud and AI-related storage demand, including stronger interest in higher-capacity drives and longer customer planning cycles; a firmer broader market for AI-linked stocks today may have added support.

Sources:

Western Digital Investor Relations, SEC, AP News

Disclaimer: This price movement analysis was generated with the help of AI. Please double-check the information provided for mistakes.

$WDC Insider Trading Activity

$WDC insiders have traded $WDC stock on the open market 109 times in the past 6 months. Of those trades, 0 have been purchases and 109 have been sales.

Here’s a breakdown of recent trading of $WDC stock by insiders over the last 6 months:

IRVING TAN (Chief Executive Officer) has made 0 purchases and 16 sales selling 40,000 shares for an estimated $17,136,193.
VIDYADHARA K GUBBI (Chief of Global Operations) has made 0 purchases and 3 sales selling 8,944 shares for an estimated $4,273,613.
MARTIN I COLE has made 0 purchases and 76 sales selling 8,000 shares for an estimated $3,859,881.
STEPHANIE A STREETER has made 0 purchases and 3 sales selling 5,600 shares for an estimated $2,519,280.
CYNTHIA L TREGILLIS (Chief Legal Officer & Corp Sec) has made 0 purchases and 10 sales selling 4,702 shares for an estimated $2,286,790.
BRUCE E KIDDOO sold 750 shares for an estimated $396,390

To track insider transactions, check out Investivoq's insider trading dashboard. You can access data on insider stock transactions through the Investivoq API insider transaction endpoint.

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$WDC Hedge Fund Activity

We have seen 1,009 institutional investors add shares of $WDC stock to their portfolio, and 766 decrease their positions in their most recent quarter.

Here are some of the largest recent moves:

JPMORGAN CHASE & CO added 17,007,789 shares (+inf%) to their portfolio in Q2 2026, for an estimated $10,863,214,990
INVESCO LTD. added 8,904,877 shares (+161.0%) to their portfolio in Q2 2026, for an estimated $5,687,723,037
FMR LLC removed 5,639,773 shares (-17.8%) from their portfolio in Q2 2026, for an estimated $3,602,235,810
WCM INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT, LLC removed 4,929,689 shares (-75.1%) from their portfolio in Q2 2026, for an estimated $3,148,690,958
CAPITAL WORLD INVESTORS added 4,718,173 shares (+39.7%) to their portfolio in Q2 2026, for an estimated $3,013,591,458
D. E. SHAW & CO., INC. removed 3,799,531 shares (-66.6%) from their portfolio in Q2 2026, for an estimated $2,426,836,440
UBS GROUP AG removed 2,923,969 shares (-69.9%) from their portfolio in Q2 2026, for an estimated $1,867,597,479

To track hedge funds' stock portfolios, check out Investivoq's institutional holdings dashboard. You can access data on hedge funds moves and 13F filings through the Investivoq API 13F endpoint.

$WDC Congressional Stock Trading

Members of Congress have traded $WDC stock 2 times in the past 6 months. Of those trades, 1 have been purchases and 1 have been sales.

Here’s a breakdown of recent trading of $WDC stock by members of Congress over the last 6 months:

REPRESENTATIVE GILBERT RAY CISNEROS, JR. has traded it 2 times. They made 1 purchase worth up to $15,000 on 07/17 and 1 sale worth up to $15,000 on 09/18.

To track congressional stock trading, check out Investivoq's congressional trading dashboard. You can access data on congressional stock trades through the Investivoq API Congress trades endpoint.

$WDC Analyst Ratings

Wall Street analysts have issued reports on $WDC in the last several months. We have seen 1 firms issue buy ratings on the stock, and 0 firms issue sell ratings.

Here are some recent analyst ratings:

Rosenblatt issued a "Buy" rating on 05/01/2026

To track analyst ratings and price targets for $WDC, check out Investivoq's $WDC forecast page.

$WDC Price Targets

Multiple analysts have issued price targets for $WDC recently. We have seen 14 analysts offer price targets for $WDC in the last 6 months, with a median target of $597.5.

Here are some recent targets:

Mehdi Hosseini from Susquehanna set a target price of $500.0 on 07/08/2026
Wamsi Mohan from B of A Securities set a target price of $732.0 on 07/01/2026
C.J. Muse from Cantor Fitzgerald set a target price of $900.0 on 06/29/2026
Erik Woodring from Morgan Stanley set a target price of $650.0 on 06/15/2026
Harlan Sur from JP Morgan set a target price of $650.0 on 06/12/2026
Vijay Rakesh from Mizuho set a target price of $685.0 on 06/08/2026
Asiya Merchant from Citigroup set a target price of $685.0 on 06/02/2026

This article is not financial advice. See Investivoq's disclaimers for more information. Note that there may be inaccuracies due to mistakes in ticker-mapping, and other anomalies.