Key Highlights
- Bank of America increased WDC’s price target from $415 to $495 while maintaining its Buy recommendation
- Wedbush elevated its price objective from $320 to $530, continuing its Buy stance
- Cantor Fitzgerald boosted its target from $420 to $500 while keeping its Overweight designation
- Analysts unanimously point to constrained HDD availability, increasing average selling prices, and robust AI infrastructure demand
- Western Digital announces fiscal Q3 2026 results on April 30; consensus calls for $2.40 EPS and $3.25 billion in revenue
As Western Digital (WDC) prepares to unveil its fiscal third-quarter financial performance on April 30, the company has received encouraging signals from three prominent Wall Street institutions. This week, Bank of America, Wedbush, and Cantor Fitzgerald each elevated their price projections, all highlighting a common narrative: constrained hard disk drive availability coupled with accelerating demand from artificial intelligence applications.
Western Digital Corporation, WDC
Shares of WDC have experienced a remarkable appreciation of approximately 900% throughout the past twelve months, currently trading around $404 — approaching its 52-week peak of $416.
The Street anticipates the storage technology leader will deliver earnings per share of $2.40 for the third quarter of fiscal 2026, representing a 76.5% increase compared to the prior-year period. Revenues are projected to reach $3.25 billion, marking roughly 42% growth.
Wedbush’s Matt Bryson made the most bullish revision, pushing his price objective to $530 from $320. Maintaining his Buy recommendation, Bryson emphasized that the HDD sector began 2026 facing a pronounced supply-demand imbalance that continues to intensify.
Bryson highlighted escalating AI infrastructure investments and expanding data requirements for AI training and inference workloads as primary catalysts. He anticipates manufacturing limitations will sustain supply constraints even as demand momentum accelerates.
Regarding the upcoming quarter, Bryson forecasts WDC’s nearline drive shipments will climb to 7.6 million units, HDD pricing will advance 6%, and gross profit margin will expand by 140 basis points to 47.5%.
However, he acknowledged potential near-term limitations, noting that manufacturing bottlenecks, extended supply contracts, and memory segment challenges could temporarily moderate upside potential.
Additional Support from BofA and Cantor
Bank of America’s Wamsi Mohan elevated his price target from $415 to $495 while retaining his Buy rating. He reinforced the supply constraint narrative, characterizing it as a fundamental industry transformation rather than a temporary phenomenon. Mohan anticipates demand will persistently exceed available supply and foresees additional pricing power.
Mohan’s optimistic scenario is particularly noteworthy: he outlines a potential path toward 2028 EPS of $33, with dollar-per-terabyte pricing reaching $20 at a 3-year compound annual growth rate of 12% alongside an operating margin of 55%.
Cantor Fitzgerald similarly participated, lifting its target from $420 to $500 while maintaining an Overweight rating. The firm anticipates gross margins could achieve 50% or greater beginning with the September quarter, potentially climbing to 60% by late 2028.
Cantor increased its 2026 revenue projection to $14.7 billion with EPS of $12.55, both exceeding consensus estimates. For 2027, the firm envisions revenue of $18.2 billion and earnings per share of $18.50.
Financial Position Shows Strength
A recurring theme among analysts involves Western Digital’s improved financial foundation. Following the complete monetization of its SanDisk holdings, the company now operates with zero debt obligations. Cantor projects this financial flexibility could enable WDC to execute share repurchases exceeding $9 billion through 2028, contingent upon dividend policy decisions.
S&P Global Ratings recently elevated Western Digital’s creditworthiness to BBB-, acknowledging the company’s debt reduction achievements.
Notwithstanding the optimistic analyst sentiment, the consensus price target among all 18 firms covering the stock stands at $375.56 — approximately 7.5% beneath current trading levels, underscoring how substantially WDC has already appreciated.
The company unveils fiscal Q3 2026 financial results on April 30.
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