Executive Summary
Western Digital Corporation develops, manufactures, and sells data storage devices and solutions worldwide.
Rewards
Risk Analysis
Snowflake Analysis
Reasonable growth potential unattractive dividend payer.
Similar Companies
Share Price & News
How has Western Digital's share price performed over time and what events caused price changes?
Latest Share Price and Events
Stable Share Price: WDC's share price has been volatile over the past 3 months.
Market Performance
7 Day Return
-0.06%
WDC
-4.0%
AT Tech
0.3%
AT Market
1 Year Return
50.1%
WDC
7.6%
AT Tech
3.6%
AT Market
Return vs Industry: WDC exceeded the Austrian Tech industry which returned 7.6% over the past year.
Return vs Market: WDC exceeded the Austrian Market which returned 3.6% over the past year.
Shareholder returns
| WDC | Industry | Market | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7 Day | -0.06% | -4.0% | 0.3% |
| 30 Day | 4.6% | -0.2% | 0.1% |
| 90 Day | 47.9% | 3.8% | 0.8% |
| 1 Year | 56.1%50.1% | 9.1%7.6% | 7.3%3.6% |
| 3 Year | n/a | 23.3%18.0% | 27.6%16.1% |
| 5 Year | n/a | 92.5%70.0% | 53.9%32.5% |
Price Volatility Vs. Market
How volatile is Western Digital's share price compared to the market and industry in the last 5 years?
Simply Wall St News
No news available
Valuation
Is Western Digital undervalued compared to its fair value and its price relative to the market?
2.22x
Price to Book (PB) ratio
Share Price vs. Fair Value
Below Fair Value: WDC (€64.72) is trading above our estimate of fair value (€48.04)
Significantly Below Fair Value: WDC is trading above our estimate of fair value.
Price To Earnings Ratio
PE vs Industry: WDC is unprofitable, so we can't compare its PE Ratio to the Tech industry average.
PE vs Market: WDC is unprofitable, so we can't compare its PE Ratio to the Austrian market.
Price to Earnings Growth Ratio
PEG Ratio: Insufficient data to calculate WDC's PEG Ratio to determine if it is good value.
Price to Book Ratio
PB vs Industry: WDC is overvalued based on its PB Ratio (2.2x) compared to the XE Tech industry average (1.3x).
Next Steps
Future Growth
How is Western Digital forecast to perform in the next 1 to 3 years based on estimates from 27 analysts?
112.7%
Forecasted annual earnings growth
Earnings and Revenue Growth Forecasts
Analyst Future Growth Forecasts
Earnings vs Savings Rate: WDC is forecast to become profitable over the next 3 years, which is considered faster growth than the savings rate (-0.1%).
Earnings vs Market: WDC is forecast to become profitable over the next 3 years, which is considered above average market growth.
High Growth Earnings: WDC's is expected to become profitable in the next 3 years.
Revenue vs Market: WDC's revenue (9.6% per year) is forecast to grow faster than the Austrian market (2.6% per year).
High Growth Revenue: WDC's revenue (9.6% per year) is forecast to grow slower than 20% per year.
Earnings per Share Growth Forecasts
Future Return on Equity
Future ROE: WDC's Return on Equity is forecast to be low in 3 years time (16.6%).
Next Steps
Past Performance
How has Western Digital performed over the past 5 years?
-49.0%
Historical annual earnings growth
Earnings and Revenue History
Quality Earnings: WDC is currently unprofitable.
Growing Profit Margin: WDC is currently unprofitable.
Past Earnings Growth Analysis
Earnings Trend: WDC is unprofitable, and losses have increased over the past 5 years at a rate of -49% per year.
Accelerating Growth: Unable to compare WDC's earnings growth over the past year to its 5-year average as it is currently unprofitable
Earnings vs Industry: WDC is unprofitable, making it difficult to compare its past year earnings growth to the Tech industry (-8.4%).
Return on Equity
High ROE: WDC has a negative Return on Equity (-12.72%), as it is currently unprofitable.
Return on Assets
Return on Capital Employed
Next Steps
Financial Health
How is Western Digital's financial position?
Financial Position Analysis
Short Term Liabilities: WDC's short term assets ($8.6B) exceed its short term liabilities ($4.5B).
Long Term Liabilities: WDC's short term assets ($8.6B) do not cover its long term liabilities ($12.0B).
Debt to Equity History and Analysis
Debt Level: WDC's debt to equity ratio (104.8%) is considered high.
Reducing Debt: WDC's debt to equity ratio has increased from 26.1% to 104.8% over the past 5 years.
Balance Sheet
Inventory Level: WDC has a high level of physical assets or inventory.
Debt Coverage by Assets: WDC's debt is not covered by short term assets (assets are 0.9x debt).
Cash Runway Analysis
For companies that have on average been loss making in the past we assess whether they have at least 1 year of cash runway.
Stable Cash Runway: WDC has been profitable on average in the past, therefore cash runway is not a concern.
Forecast Cash Runway: WDC has been profitable on average in the past, therefore cash runway is not a concern.
Next Steps
Dividend
What is Western Digital's current dividend yield, its reliability and sustainability?
2.88%
Current Dividend Yield
Dividend Yield vs Market
Notable Dividend: WDC's dividend (2.88%) is higher than the bottom 25% of dividend payers in the Austrian market (1.58%).
High Dividend: WDC's dividend (2.88%) is low compared to the top 25% of dividend payers in the Austrian market (4.49%).
Stability and Growth of Payments
Stable Dividend: Whilst dividend payments have been stable, WDC has been paying a dividend for less than 10 years.
Growing Dividend: WDC's dividend payments have increased, but the company has only paid a dividend for 7 years.
Current Payout to Shareholders
Dividend Coverage: WDC is paying a dividend but the company is unprofitable.
Future Payout to Shareholders
Future Dividend Coverage: WDC's dividends in 3 years are forecast to be well covered by earnings (23.9% payout ratio).
Next Steps
Management
How experienced are the management team and are they aligned to shareholders interests?
3.3yrs
Average management tenure
CEO
Steve Milligan (56yo)
7.1yrs
Tenure
US$12,866,469
Compensation
Mr. Stephen D. Milligan, also known as Steve, has been the Chief Executive Officer of Western Digital Corporation since January 2, 2013 and served as its President from January 1, 2013 to October 18, 2015. ...
CEO Compensation Analysis
Compensation vs Market: Steve's total compensation ($USD12.87M) is above average for companies of similar size in the Austrian market ($USD3.57M).
Compensation vs Earnings: Steve's compensation has been consistent with company performance over the past year.
Leadership Team
| Name | Position | Tenure | Compensation | Ownership |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CEO & Director | 7.1yrs | US$12.87m | 0.14% $27.0m | |
| President & COO | 4.3yrs | US$5.48m | 0.076% $14.4m | |
| Executive VP & CFO | 0.8yrs | US$2.39m | no data | |
| President of Technology & Strategy | 3.8yrs | US$3.67m | no data | |
| 0.4yrs | US$2.95m | 0.0088% $1.7m | ||
| Chief Investment Officer | 0yrs | no data | no data | |
| Vice President of Global Accounting & Chief Accounting Officer | 0.5yrs | no data | no data | |
| Vice President of Investor Relations | 0yrs | no data | no data | |
| Chief Legal Officer | 9.3yrs | US$4.58m | 0.017% $3.3m | |
| Senior Vice President of Corporate Marketing | 2.8yrs | no data | no data |
3.3yrs
Average Tenure
55.5yo
Average Age
Experienced Management: WDC's management team is considered experienced (3.3 years average tenure).
Board Members
| Name | Position | Tenure | Compensation | Ownership |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CEO & Director | 7.1yrs | US$12.87m | 0.14% $27.0m | |
| Independent Director | 1.5yrs | US$376.50k | 0.0020% $378.3k | |
| Independent Chairman | 4.3yrs | US$464.97k | 0.0066% $1.3m | |
| Independent Director | 19.1yrs | US$337.48k | 0.0098% $1.9m | |
| Independent Director | 1.3yrs | US$324.61k | 0.0017% $314.0k | |
| Lead Independent Director | 4.3yrs | US$402.47k | 0.026% $5.0m | |
| Independent Director | 5.2yrs | US$339.98k | 0.0059% $1.1m | |
| Independent Director | 1.3yrs | US$317.27k | 0.0017% $314.0k |
4.3yrs
Average Tenure
61yo
Average Age
Experienced Board: WDC's board of directors are considered experienced (4.3 years average tenure).
Ownership
Who are the major shareholders and have insiders been buying or selling?
Insider Trading Volume
Insider Buying: Insufficient data to determine if insiders have bought more shares than they have sold in the past 3 months.
Recent Insider Transactions
Ownership Breakdown
Dilution of Shares: Shareholders have not been meaningfully diluted in the past year.
Top Shareholders
Company Information
Western Digital Corporation's company bio, employee growth, exchange listings and data sources
Key Information
- Name: Western Digital Corporation
- Ticker: WDC
- Exchange: WBAG
- Founded: 1970
- Industry: Technology Hardware, Storage and Peripherals
- Sector: Tech
- Market Cap: US$20.420b
- Listing Market Cap: US$18.915b
- Shares outstanding: 298.93m
- Website: https://www.westerndigital.com
Number of Employees
Location
- Western Digital Corporation
- 5601 Great Oaks Parkway
- San Jose
- California
- 95119
- United States
Listings
| Ticker | Exchange | Primary Security | Security Type | Country | Currency | Listed on |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WDC | NasdaqGS (Nasdaq Global Select) | Yes | Common Stock | US | USD | Jan 1973 |
| WDC | DB (Deutsche Boerse AG) | Yes | Common Stock | DE | EUR | Jan 1973 |
| WDC | XTRA (XETRA Trading Platform) | Yes | Common Stock | DE | EUR | Jan 1973 |
| WDC * | BMV (Bolsa Mexicana de Valores) | Yes | Common Stock | MX | MXN | Jan 1973 |
| WDC | SWX (SIX Swiss Exchange) | Yes | Common Stock | CH | CHF | Jan 1973 |
| 0QZF | LSE (London Stock Exchange) | Yes | Common Stock | GB | USD | Jan 1973 |
| WDC | WBAG (Wiener Boerse AG) | Yes | Common Stock | AT | EUR | Jan 1973 |
| WDC | ETLX (Eurotlx) | Yes | Common Stock | IT | EUR | Jan 1973 |
| W1DC34 | BOVESPA (Bolsa de Valores de Sao Paulo) | BDR EACH REPR 1 COM | BR | BRL | Jan 2020 |
Biography
Western Digital Corporation develops, manufactures, and sells data storage devices and solutions worldwide. It offers client devices, including hard disk drives (HDDs) and solid state drives (SSDs) for computing devices, such as desktop and notebook personal computers (PCs), security surveillance systems, gaming consoles, and set top boxes; flash-based embedded storage products for mobile phones, tablets, notebook PCs, and other portable and wearable devices, as well as automotive, Internet of Things, industrial, and connected home applications; flash-based memory wafers; and embedded storage solutions and flash products, such as multi-chip package solutions. The company also provides data center devices and solutions comprising enterprise helium hard drives; enterprise SSDs consisting of flash-based SSDs and software solutions for use in enterprise servers, online transactions, data analysis, and other enterprise applications; data center solutions, including HDDs and drive configurations for use in data storage systems and tiered storage models; system solutions that offer petabyte scalable capacity; and data storage platforms and systems. In addition, it offers client solutions, such as external HDD storage products in mobile and desktop form; client SSDs; removable cards that are used in consumer devices comprising mobile phones, tablets, imaging systems, still and action video cameras, and security surveillance systems; universal serial bus flash drives for use in the computing and consumer markets; and wireless drive products used in-field back up of created content, as well as wireless streaming of high-definition movies, photos, music, and documents to tablets, smartphones, and PCs. The company sells its products under the HGST, SanDisk, and WD brands to original equipment manufacturers, distributors, resellers, cloud infrastructure players, and retailers. Western Digital Corporation was founded in 1970 and is headquartered in San Jose, California.
Company Analysis and Financial Data Status
| Data | Last Updated (UTC time) |
|---|---|
| Company Analysis | 2020/02/19 23:15 |
| End of Day Share Price | 2020/02/19 00:00 |
| Earnings | 2020/01/03 |
| Annual Earnings | 2019/06/28 |
Unless specified all financial data is based on a yearly period but updated quarterly. This is known as Trailing Twelve Month (TTM) or Last Twelve Month (LTM) Data. Learn more here.