San Jose, California, April 29, 2026, 07:09 PDT
- Western Digital jumped 9.3% to $427.45. Seagate surged 16.6% as its latest quarterly outlook topped forecasts.
- Seagate’s forecast brought hard-disk drives, or HDDs, back into focus—those high-capacity storage units powering cloud and AI data centers.
- Western Digital will release its fiscal third-quarter earnings after Thursday’s closing bell on April 30.
Western Digital Corp. shares surged Wednesday, catching a lift from Seagate Technology’s upbeat forecast that sent storage stocks higher and put extra attention on Western Digital’s earnings slated for this week.
Why does this matter? Right now, investors want to see whether all that AI-driven capex is actually showing up as orders for real-world storage. Seagate’s update cut straight through, offering the sector a rare, unambiguous signal: bigger data volumes, more drive sales, pricing holding up.
Western Digital is set to release its fiscal third-quarter numbers after the bell Thursday, with an investor call scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Pacific time. The San Jose-based storage maker lands in focus a day after Seagate flagged solid demand.
Seagate posted revenue of $3.11 billion for its fiscal third quarter, turning in non-GAAP earnings of $4.10 per share. Looking ahead, the company is guiding for fourth-quarter revenue of $3.45 billion, give or take $100 million, and expects non-GAAP diluted earnings to land around $5 per share, with a possible swing of 20 cents.
Seagate chair and CEO Dave Mosley called this a “new era of structural growth,” pointing to AI applications that “amplify data creation.” Investors took notice. The market’s been jumpy lately about the pace of the AI buildout—whether it’s overheating, or losing steam. Business Wire
Western Digital stands out among major suppliers plugged into the current cycle. The company manufactures HDDs for large-scale data storage; Seagate is its main listed rival. Micron and SanDisk joined Wednesday’s storage rally too, as traders lumped memory and storage stocks into the wider AI-infrastructure theme.
Western Digital’s fiscal second-quarter revenue landed at $3.02 billion in January, a 25% jump from the prior year. Non-GAAP gross margin hit 46.1%, with earnings at $2.13 per share on the same basis. “AI-driven data economy,” is how Chief Executive Irving Tan described the demand behind the quarter. Western Digital Corporation
Western Digital’s own third-quarter guidance had already put expectations in place: revenue pegged around $3.2 billion at the midpoint, non-GAAP gross margin forecast at 47.5%, and non-GAAP EPS of $2.30. Chief Financial Officer Kris Sennesael tied those targets to demand from data centers and increased uptake of high-capacity drives.
Analyst targets are moving higher ahead of the print. Wedbush’s Matt Bryson bumped his Western Digital price target up to $530 from $320, sticking with Buy. Over at BofA Securities, Wamsi Mohan lifted his target as well—to $495 from $415, TipRanks and Investing.com show.
The trade might have moved ahead of what near-term fundamentals justify. Bryson flagged production limits, locked-in supply deals, and memory-sector challenges as possible caps on further gains. Western Digital itself points to demand swings, tariffs, trade rules, and supply-chain snags in its filings.
Right now, Seagate’s results are setting the tone for Western Digital shares. When Western Digital reports Thursday, investors will see if that optimism is for the sector at large—or just for Seagate, who happened to go first.
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