AI storage demand lifts Western Digital sales 55% – shares slip anyway
The hard-drive maker beat expectations and forecast growth of up to 72% for the current quarter, but investors reacted cautiously.
Symbolic image · Photo: Mk2010 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0 (cropped and resized)
Western Digital posted revenue of $4.38 billion for its fiscal first quarter ended Oct. 2, up 55% from a year earlier. Adjusted earnings per share came in at $4.64, above the $4.08 analysts had expected, according to Investing.com. Chief Executive Irving Tan said fiscal 2027 was off to a strong start, with results exceeding expectations.
For the current quarter, the company forecast revenue of about $5.1 billion, up 66% to 72%. It raised its quarterly dividend by 17% to $0.175 per share. Demand from large cloud providers storing AI data is driving growth, and the average price per terabyte rose 28%, the company said.
Drives using the new HAMR technology for higher storage density are due to begin volume shipments in the first half of 2027 after qualification with two major cloud customers. Investors were unimpressed: after falling 6.4% in regular trading, the stock lost another 4.9% after hours to about $337.