Western Digital beats fiscal Q1 estimates and guides December quarter above consensus, but shares sink 5%+ after hours (Oct 23)
What happened
Western Digital reported fiscal first-quarter results ahead of estimates: earnings climbed 160% to $4.64 per share (FactSet consensus $4.11) and sales jumped 55% to $4.38 billion (consensus $4.14 billion). The company guided December-quarter revenue to $5.1 billion, well above the $4.57 billion analyst consensus. CFO Kris Sennesael cited 'robust exabyte growth and improved pricing,' with WD shipping 248 exabytes during the September quarter, up 22% year over year. Despite the beat-and-raise, WDC stock sank more than 5% after hours, extending a pullback of more than 50% from June highs.
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Start your free 14-day trialWho’s affected
- Western Digital (WDC): beat on both top and bottom lines plus an above-consensus guide, yet shares sank more than 5% after hours — a sell-the-beat reaction inside the AI-rotation selloff.
- Seagate Technology (STX): WD's HDD duopoly rival, exposed to the same AI-storage-demand read-through and likely sympathetic selling.
- Semiconductor/AI infrastructure complex (SOX names, memory/HDD supply chain): the muted reaction to a genuine beat reinforces the market's 'spending discipline replacing capex euphoria' mood noted after Meta/Tesla/Lam reports.
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