Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ: WDC) ended Thursday, December 11, 2025, on a strong note in regular trading—then turned choppy after the closing bell as investors weighed fresh corporate headlines, mixed signals around the “AI trade,” and shifting expectations for the storage cycle heading into Friday’s open.
WDC closed at $187.20, up 2.89%, after trading as high as $188.77 during the session. Volume was about 6.6 million shares, below recent averages—often a sign the move was driven more by positioning and sentiment than a single “blowout” catalyst. [1]
After-hours trading told a more complicated story: some feeds showed WDC ticking higher shortly after 4:00 p.m. ET (including a print around $189.30 a little after the close), but later quotes showed the stock drifting lower, with after-hours prices reported in the mid-$185s to high-$189s range. [2]
Below is what mattered after the bell on 12/11—and what investors should keep in mind before the U.S. stock market opens Friday, December 12, 2025.
WDC stock price action: the numbers investors are reacting to
Regular session (Thu, Dec. 11):
- Close: $187.20 (+2.89%)
- Day range: $173.45 – $188.77
- Volume: ~6.6M shares [3]
Context: a two-day surge
- WDC also rose sharply on Dec. 10 (+7.32%), meaning the stock gained about 10% across the last two sessions—a lot of momentum packed into 48 hours. [4]
After-hours (Thu night):
- Early after-hours prints showed WDC higher (around $189.30 shortly after the close on some platforms). [5]
- Later after-hours snapshots showed weakness, with some tracking pages showing ~$185 handles by the end of extended trading and an after-hours range roughly $185 to $189.85. [6]
Why the split personality? After-hours liquidity is thinner, spreads are wider, and different venues update at different times—so it’s common to see “up at 4:35 p.m., down at 7:59 p.m.” without any single dramatic headline.
The biggest WDC-specific news on Dec. 11: a quantum computing investment (yes, really)
On December 11, quantum hardware company Qolab announced a strategic investment from Western Digital. The companies say they plan to collaborate on next-generation nanofabrication processes aimed at improving qubit performance, reliability, and scalability—leaning on Western Digital’s background in materials science and precision manufacturing. [7]
This isn’t the kind of headline that typically rewrites next quarter’s revenue forecast overnight. But it does add to the narrative investors have been paying for in 2025: WDC positioning itself as an enabling technology company for next-gen computing infrastructure, not “just” a legacy storage vendor. [8]
What to watch here: whether the market treats this as a one-day curiosity—or as another data point supporting a premium “advanced manufacturing + AI infrastructure” multiple.
Quick but important clarification: WDC is now the HDD company
A lot of “storage cycle” commentary online still blurs hard disk drives (HDDs) with flash / NAND.
But Western Digital completed the separation of its Flash business in February 2025, and Sandisk became an independent public company trading under ticker “SNDK.” [9]
So when you see headlines about memory (DRAM/NAND) pricing, they may be more directly relevant to Sandisk than to WDC—though they can still move sentiment around the broader data infrastructure complex.
The macro backdrop on Dec. 11: record highs… with AI nerves underneath
Thursday’s broader tape mattered because WDC has increasingly traded like an “AI infrastructure” proxy.
On Dec. 11, the S&P 500 and Dow closed at record highs, but the Nasdaq lagged, pressured by Oracle’s drop and renewed debate about AI economics and capex intensity. [10]
Oracle’s outlook and higher spending plans helped revive fears that the AI boom could be pushing margins down and payback periods out—concerns that can ripple into anything linked to data centers (chips, networking, power, and yes, storage). [11]
The after-hours “AI trade” catalyst: Broadcom’s margins and what that can mean for WDC
After the close, Broadcom forecast upbeat revenue, but warned that gross margins could dip due to a higher mix of AI revenue; the stock fell about 5% in extended trading, per Reuters. [12]
Why should WDC investors care?
Because markets often trade these names as a bundle:
- If “AI infrastructure” sentiment sours overnight, it can pressure high-flying beneficiaries—even if their fundamentals didn’t change at all at 7:00 p.m. ET.
- If investors interpret margin pressure as “the AI buildout is getting more expensive,” the market sometimes de-risks across the ecosystem going into the next morning. [13]
That’s a plausible reason WDC’s after-hours tone softened later in the evening even after a strong cash-session close.
Storage and pricing signals investors are watching (even if they’re not all “WDC drivers”)
On the industry side, TrendForce put fresh “pricing pressure” back on the radar:
- TrendForce said memory prices are projected to rise sharply again in 1Q26, pushing smartphone and notebook brands toward higher prices and lower specs. [14]
- Another TrendForce note flagged a potential NAND supply squeeze and discussed enterprise SSD contract prices rising significantly. [15]
Again: these are not direct “WDC revenue line” headlines the way they might be for a flash-heavy name. But they can still matter as sentiment inputs—because storage spending decisions (HDD vs SSD mix, server configs, procurement timing) happen inside the same enterprise budgets AI is currently distorting.
Analyst forecasts and targets: what Wall Street thinks (and why it’s messy right now)
Earnings expectations (next report)
One widely-circulated expectations set (published via Nasdaq/Zacks-style consensus) points to:
- Forecast EPS around $1.92
- Forecast revenue around $2.91B for the upcoming report [16]
Takeaway: analysts are still modeling profitability, but the revenue line can look “lumpy” depending on product mix, pricing, and timing of large customer orders—classic storage-cycle behavior.
Price targets
Consensus snapshots vary by platform, but one widely followed tracker lists:
- Average price target ~ $164.70
- High estimate ~ $250
- Low estimate ~ $53 [17]
The key point isn’t that “$164.70 is the truth.” It’s that WDC’s surge has outrun many published targets, which increases the odds of:
- More target raises as analysts update models, or
- Louder debates about valuation and “how much AI optimism is already priced in.”
Recent bullish framing from major shops
A Barron’s summary of a Citi note highlighted the thesis that hard-drive makers (including WDC) are major AI beneficiaries, with Citi raising WDC’s price target to $200 from $180 and projecting strong enterprise HDD demand growth longer term. [18]
Bank of America also raised its WDC target to $197 from $170 in a recent note, per an Investing.com analyst-ratings report. [19]
What to know before the market opens Friday, Dec. 12, 2025
Going into Friday’s opening bell, WDC investors will likely be trading three overlapping forces:
1) Whether after-hours softness carries into premarket
WDC’s after-hours action was not a straight-line continuation of the day session. Extended trading showed a wide range across venues, including late-evening quotes in the mid-$185s after earlier prints near $189+. [20]
Why it matters: after a two-day sprint and a new 52-week high, even modest overnight selling can turn into “gap risk” at the open if the broader tech complex is weak.
2) AI sentiment: Oracle hangover + Broadcom margin worries
Oracle’s drop reopened the AI “payback period” debate, and Broadcom’s margin commentary added fresh fuel to the idea that AI infrastructure winners may face profit-pressure tradeoffs. [21]
WDC has benefited from the AI infrastructure narrative in 2025—so it’s exposed to that narrative’s mood swings.
3) Fed policy and rates: supportive backdrop, but not a free lunch
Markets were still digesting the Fed’s latest move. The Fed’s implementation note set the federal funds target range at 3.50% to 3.75% effective Dec. 11. [22]
Lower rates can support risk assets and cyclicals, but storage stocks can still whipsaw if investors decide the trade has become crowded.
4) Economic calendar: not many “hard stops” on Friday
One reason Friday can get weird: if there’s no major scheduled macro print, price action can be driven more by positioning, earnings reactions, and headlines than by a single data release. Kiplinger’s weekly calendar commentary noted no noteworthy economic reports scheduled for Friday, Dec. 12. [23]
The bottom line for WDC stock into Dec. 12
Western Digital stock is entering Friday’s session with:
- Strong momentum (two-day surge, new highs) [24]
- A fresh, attention-grabbing strategic investment headline (Qolab) [25]
- But also a potentially fragile tape for “AI-linked” names after Oracle’s stumble and Broadcom’s after-hours margin warning [26]
For traders, the key question into the open is whether WDC behaves like:
- a momentum leader that shrugs off AI volatility, or
- an overextended winner that gets pulled into a broader overnight de-risking.
For longer-term investors, the near-term noise matters less than the core thesis that’s been driving analyst optimism: AI-driven data growth + cost-effective storage demand, with HDD vendors positioned as essential plumbing—not optional decoration. [27]
References
1. stockanalysis.com, 2. finance.yahoo.com, 3. stockanalysis.com, 4. stockanalysis.com, 5. finance.yahoo.com, 6. public.com, 7. www.businesswire.com, 8. www.businesswire.com, 9. www.westerndigital.com, 10. www.reuters.com, 11. www.reuters.com, 12. www.reuters.com, 13. www.reuters.com, 14. www.trendforce.com, 15. www.trendforce.com, 16. www.nasdaq.com, 17. www.marketbeat.com, 18. www.barrons.com, 19. www.investing.com, 20. public.com, 21. www.reuters.com, 22. www.federalreserve.gov, 23. www.kiplinger.com, 24. stockanalysis.com, 25. www.businesswire.com, 26. www.reuters.com, 27. www.barrons.com
