NEW YORK, July 6, 2026, 08:01 (EDT)
- Western Digital rose 4.26% ahead of the Nasdaq open, after dropping 9.92% in the previous regular session.
- The stock started trading under new bullish targets, though it held above the wider analyst consensus.
- Here’s the investor test: Does AI storage demand keep gross margin around 50%?
Western Digital NASDAQ:WDC traded up 4.26% at $561.95 in premarket as of 7:43 a.m. EDT. That follows a 9.92% plunge to a $539.00 finish before the long weekend. The morning move clawed back less than 40% of Friday’s $59.37 slide.
Nasdaq listed July 3 as a market holiday for Independence Day, and said its normal cash trading runs from 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Eastern. So WDC’s price here is from before the open, not the regular session.
Reuters said memory and storage stocks held up ahead of the open, with Western Digital up 3.2%, Seagate Technology Holdings Plc NASDAQ:STX gaining 2.2%, and Micron Technology Inc. NASDAQ:MU up 2.3%. Nasdaq 100 E-minis were 1.1% higher at 7:24 a.m. ET. S&P 500 E-minis added 0.44%. “Investors will continue to question technology valuations,” Swissquote Bank senior analyst Ipek Ozkardeskaya said. Reuters
| Early Monday measure | Move / level | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Western Digital NASDAQ:WDC | +4.26% to $561.95 | Shares bounced after falling 9.92% |
| Seagate NASDAQ:STX | +2.2% | Also moved on AI storage play |
| Micron NASDAQ:MU | +2.3% | Got a lift as a memory peer |
| Nasdaq 100 E-minis | +1.1% | Tech sector pointed higher |
| S&P 500 E-minis | +0.44% | Bigger market was less strong |
The real story isn’t the rebound, but the split between new bullish calls and the rest of the Street. Benzinga data put the consensus target at $438.23, with a high mark of $900 and an average of $760.67 from the latest three ratings out of BofA Securities, Cantor Fitzgerald, and Morgan Stanley NYSE:MS.
| Reference point | Level | Distance from $561.95 premarket quote |
|---|---|---|
| Prior close | $539.00 | WDC was up 4.26% compared to that |
| Consensus target | $438.23 | -22.0% |
| BofA Securities NYSE:BAC target | $732.00 | +30.3% |
| Three-target average | $760.67 | +35.4% |
| 52-week top | $799.87 | +42.3% |
| Cantor Fitzgerald top target | $900.00 | +60.2% |
That split is key. Western Digital isn’t trading as a cheap turnaround story anymore. MarketWatch data put the stock up 212.88% for the year, 715.68% over 12 months. It’s traded between $63.67 and $799.87 in the last 52 weeks. Shares are still about 30% off that peak, even with the move up before the bell.
Western Digital bulls are chasing margin as the disk-drive maker posted fiscal Q3 revenue of $3.34 billion, up 45% year over year. Non-GAAP gross margin hit 50.5%. Free cash flow came in at $978 million. CEO Irving Tan said, “Virtually every AI workload … creates data,” and WD says persistent data lands on HDDs. Western Digital Corporation
Chief Financial Officer Kris Sennesael guided for fiscal fourth-quarter revenue of $3.65 billion at the midpoint, 51.5% non-GAAP gross margin, and $3.25 in non-GAAP EPS. That margin is what investors will watch against the target gap for the stock.
BofA’s Wamsi Mohan boosted the price target on Western Digital to $732 from $610 and kept a Buy. Cantor Fitzgerald took its target up to $900 from $660 and stuck with Overweight, per Robinhood’s quote page news.
WDC traded 97,070 shares before the bell. The stock’s 65-day average regular volume stood at 8.44 million shares.
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