Aug 5 (Reuters) – Western Digital forecast quarterly revenue slightly above Wall Street estimates on Wednesday, betting on strong AI-driven demand for its hard disk drives.
Still, its shares dropped more than 9% in extended trading, after the forecast failed to impress investors even though the stock has tripled this year on expectations of sustained AI-driven growth.
Memory and storage stocks have soared this year as investors bet data-center demand will support pricing and fuel growth across the industry.
Here are some more details:
• Western Digital expects first-quarter revenue of $4.1 billion, plus or minus $100 million, with the midpoint a touch above analysts’ average estimate of $4.04 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG.
• It expects adjusted profit of $4 per share, plus or minus 15 cents, also above the estimate of $3.81.
• While demand from AI data centers remains strong, rising memory prices have slowed consumer electronics replacement cycles, weakening demand in the personal computer and consumer hard drive markets where the company also operates.
• Weakness in these smaller segments for Western Digital could offset some of the momentum from its core data center business.
• It reported a 44% rise in fourth-quarter revenue to $3.75 billion, beating the estimate of $3.69 billion.
• Adjusted profit came in at $3.56 per share, compared with the estimate of $3.30.
(Reporting by Anhata Rooprai in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)
