NEW YORK, December 30, 2025, 3:00 PM ET — Regular session
- Western Digital shares fell about 1.7% in afternoon trading, reversing an early jump.
- The move comes as traders rotate within tech in holiday-thin volumes late in the year.
- Investors are watching Fed policy signals and Western Digital’s next quarterly update for demand and margin clues.
Western Digital Corp shares fell 1.7% to $176.55 on Tuesday, after opening higher and sliding through the afternoon. The stock touched $181.34 earlier in the session before dipping as low as $176.31.
The pullback lands after a standout year for the data-storage maker, whose shares have surged about 303% in 2025, making it one of the S&P 500’s biggest gainers. That steep run has made the stock a frequent target for late-December portfolio reshuffling. 1
Broader U.S. indexes were little changed in choppy, light-volume trading, with investors repositioning inside technology. “The growth rates are going to converge between technology and everything else next year and the valuation gap is so wide,” said Mark Hackett, chief market strategist at Nationwide. 2
Western Digital lagged storage peers. Seagate Technology was down 0.2%, NetApp fell 0.9% and Pure Storage slipped 0.6%, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq-tracking ETFs were roughly flat.
There was no immediate company announcement tied to the drop. Still, the stock has traded as a proxy for investor confidence in cloud and AI-related infrastructure spending, which can swing quickly in thin year-end markets.
In its most recent quarterly update, Western Digital pointed to strong demand tied to cloud storage growth and said AI-driven data creation is lifting long-term storage needs. It projected fiscal second-quarter 2026 revenue of about $2.9 billion, plus or minus $100 million, and non-GAAP gross margin of 44% to 45%. 3
Non-GAAP results exclude certain items such as one-time charges and other adjustments, which companies say helps investors compare underlying operating performance across periods.
The company also said it completed the separation of its flash business into Sandisk Corporation in February 2025, meaning those results are no longer consolidated into Western Digital’s financials. 3
Macro policy signals also stayed in focus. Federal Reserve minutes released Tuesday showed policymakers debated a December rate cut and some described the decision as “finely balanced,” with others raising concerns that progress toward the 2% inflation goal had stalled. 4
Interest-rate expectations matter for hardware names that have rerated sharply in 2025, because higher yields typically pressure valuations by reducing what investors are willing to pay for future earnings.
With one more regular session left in 2025, traders will watch whether Western Digital steadies after the intraday reversal and whether storage peers resume moving in tandem with broader tech sentiment.
Earnings calendars currently estimate Western Digital’s next report in early February, though the company has not posted a confirmed date on that calendar view. The next update is expected to be the key read on cloud demand, high-capacity drive adoption and margins. 5
