NEW YORK, Dec. 28, 2025, 1:43 p.m. ET — Market closed
Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ: WDC) heads into the final week of 2025 with U.S. markets shut for the weekend and investors weighing whether the storage hardware rally still has room to run as trading resumes Monday.
The stock ended the most recent session (Friday, Dec. 26) up 1.10% to $181.54, extending its winning streak to three straight days, even as the broader market was largely flat into the post-Christmas lull. Trading volume was light versus recent averages—a common feature of late-December tape action and one reason traders often treat Friday’s moves as “directional hints” rather than firm conviction. [1]
What moved WDC in the last 24–48 hours
1) The headline story: resilience on a quiet market day
MarketWatch noted that Western Digital outperformed key storage peers on Friday, closing within about 4% of its 52-week high while the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average finished fractionally lower. [2]
2) Fresh weekend “flow” chatter: institutional and insider activity summaries
A MarketBeat report published Sunday highlighted a third-quarter position reduction by DePrince Race & Zollo Inc. (based on a Form 13F) and also recapped insider sale activity from prior filings. While 13F-based headlines can read bearish, they often reflect portfolio rebalancing rather than a single-stock call—and they’re backward-looking by nature. Still, these stories can influence sentiment when markets reopen, particularly in high-momentum names. [3]
The bigger picture: why Western Digital remains tied to the “AI storage” trade
Western Digital’s 2025 narrative has been tightly linked to hyperscale and AI-driven storage demand—an area investors have treated as infrastructure-like spending rather than discretionary tech. Reuters has previously pointed to strength across data-storage names amid AI-related demand, underscoring that the theme has been sector-wide, not isolated to one ticker. [4]
Just as important, Western Digital’s own commentary has emphasized that cloud-led demand is the core engine. In its fiscal first-quarter 2026 results (reported Oct. 30), CEO Irving Tan described a “strong demand environment” driven by cloud storage growth and positioned the company to benefit as AI accelerates data creation. [5]
Most recent company fundamentals investors are still trading off
While there hasn’t been a new company earnings release this weekend, investors are still anchored to Western Digital’s latest reported quarter and forward guidance:
- Q1 FY2026 results (reported Oct. 30): Revenue $2.82 billion (+27% year over year), GAAP diluted EPS $3.07, and non-GAAP diluted EPS $1.78. [6]
- Cash generation: Western Digital reported $672 million in operating cash flow and $599 million in free cash flow for that quarter. [7]
- Outlook (Q2 FY2026 guidance): CFO Kris Sennesael guided (at the midpoint) to $2.9 billion revenue, 44%–45% non-GAAP gross margin, and $1.88 non-GAAP EPS (± $0.15), pointing to continued data center demand and improving profitability tied to high-capacity drive adoption. [8]
That guidance matters for Monday because WDC has become a “macro within tech hardware”: when investors feel good about cloud capex and enterprise demand, the stock tends to trade with that confidence; when they don’t, the multiple can compress quickly.
Analyst forecasts and price targets: where Wall Street stands
Recent analyst positioning remains broadly constructive, but the details vary by shop and data provider:
- Morgan Stanley: In a note highlighted by Benzinga/Webull, Morgan Stanley analyst Erik Woodring kept an Overweight rating and raised his price target to $228 from $188. [9]
- Market-wide target range (compiled estimates): MarketWatch’s analyst estimate snapshot shows targets spanning roughly $135 to $250, with an average near the mid-$180s and a median around the low-$180s. [10]
- Consensus targets differ by platform: TipRanks, for example, shows a higher average target in the high-$180s based on its tracked analyst set—illustrating how consensus can shift depending on coverage universe and update timing. [11]
For investors, the key takeaway isn’t a single “correct” target—it’s that WDC is trading at a level where upgrades can still move the stock, but misses on demand visibility or pricing can also punish it.
A recent catalyst still echoing into year-end: Nasdaq-100 inclusion
Western Digital was added to the Nasdaq-100, effective prior to the market open on Monday, Dec. 22, 2025, alongside Seagate Technology. Index inclusion can matter because it can mechanically increase passive ownership through products that track the benchmark. [12]
That event is now “in the rearview mirror,” but the after-effects—higher passive exposure and potentially more systematic flows—can still shape volatility patterns into early 2026.
What investors should watch before the next session opens Monday
With markets closed today, the setup for Monday is less about breaking company news and more about liquidity + macro calendar + risk appetite:
Holiday-week market structure
- Next week is holiday-shortened with markets closed Thursday for New Year’s Day, and bond markets closing early Wednesday, according to Investopedia’s week-ahead preview. Thin liquidity can amplify both upside breakouts and downside air pockets. [13]
Economic data that can shift tech-hardware sentiment
- Traders will be watching a string of releases including pending home sales (Monday), Case-Shiller home prices (Tuesday), and weekly jobless claims (Wednesday), plus minutes from the December FOMC meeting (Tuesday)—any of which could move rates expectations and, by extension, higher-beta tech hardware names. [14]
Stock-specific tells for WDC on Monday
- Volume and follow-through: Friday’s volume was subdued; a strong move on Monday with materially higher turnover would likely be read as more “real” than a drift in thin trade. [15]
- Peer sympathy: WDC often trades in tandem with storage and adjacent infrastructure names; watch how Seagate and broader AI infrastructure sentiment behave at the open. [16]
- Guidance credibility check: With the company’s Q2 FY2026 outlook still the central reference point, any read-through on hyperscaler demand or capex expectations can move the stock quickly. [17]
Bottom line
Western Digital stock goes into Monday with momentum intact—up on Friday, near highs, and supported by a cloud/AI storage narrative—but also with the typical year-end caveat: thin liquidity can exaggerate moves, and macro headlines can dominate price action even when company news is quiet. [18]
References
1. www.marketwatch.com, 2. www.marketwatch.com, 3. www.marketbeat.com, 4. www.reuters.com, 5. www.westerndigital.com, 6. www.westerndigital.com, 7. www.westerndigital.com, 8. www.westerndigital.com, 9. www.webull.com, 10. www.marketwatch.com, 11. www.tipranks.com, 12. www.nasdaq.com, 13. www.investopedia.com, 14. www.investopedia.com, 15. www.marketwatch.com, 16. www.marketwatch.com, 17. www.westerndigital.com, 18. www.marketwatch.com
