Key Takeaways
- Western Digital shares dropped more than 7% on Monday, retreating to approximately $539
- SK Hynix experienced its largest single-session decline ever, plummeting over 15% in Seoul trading
- KIS brokerage released a Q2 profit estimate for SK Hynix that fell roughly 8% short of Street expectations, pointing to sluggish HBM4 deployment
- Fellow memory and storage names including Micron, SanDisk, and Seagate suffered similar losses; major indexes finished positive
- Citi reiterated its Buy stance on WDC and lifted its price objective to $800, though shares continued falling
Western Digital shares tumbled over 7% during Monday’s session, caught in a broad selloff that hammered memory and storage stocks. The company’s shares changed hands near $539, significantly below the 52-week peak of $799.87.
Western Digital Corporation, WDC
The decline had nothing to do with Western Digital’s own operations. The trigger was overseas.
SK Hynix suffered a brutal plunge of more than 15% during Monday trading in South Korea — marking the worst single-session performance in the firm’s entire trading history. Profit-taking followed a robust run-up ahead of its Nasdaq debut. The collapse dragged South Korea’s Kospi benchmark down 9%, prompting a 20-minute circuit-breaker pause.
The contagion spread rapidly across the sector. SanDisk tumbled more than 6% in early trading. Micron shed over 5%. Seagate declined more than 4%. The entire memory segment got swept up in the downdraft.
Disappointing KIS Forecast Intensifies Pressure
South Korean brokerage firm KIS amplified the selloff by publishing a second-quarter profit projection for SK Hynix that landed approximately 8% beneath Wall Street estimates.
KIS highlighted two key issues: HBM4 memory chip deliveries weren’t ramping as quickly as anticipated, and SK Hynix’s concentrated exposure to HBM agreements was preventing the company from capitalizing on strengthening traditional DRAM pricing.
That forecast was sufficient to unsettle confidence across the sector. Market participants began questioning whether the artificial intelligence-driven memory boom still had legs — or was beginning to lose steam.
Nvidia, AMD, and Intel all declined in premarket trading as well, though SanDisk and Micron absorbed the most severe damage among domestically-listed stocks.
Citi Maintains Bullish Stance
Not all analysts are growing cautious. Citi’s Asiya Merchant reaffirmed her Buy recommendation on Western Digital Monday while boosting her price objective from $685 to $800.
The revision came as part of Citi’s quarterly earnings outlook for the electronic components and equipment space. Merchant has previously highlighted constrained supply and robust AI infrastructure spending as tailwinds supporting Western Digital’s ability to command premium pricing.
While the positive call couldn’t prevent Monday’s decline, it suggests that some Wall Street observers view the pullback as temporary volatility rather than a fundamental shift.
The consensus view on Wall Street for WDC remains decidedly optimistic. With 15 Buy recommendations and four Hold ratings issued over the last three months, the stock holds a Strong Buy consensus rating.
The mean price objective stands at $648.44, suggesting approximately 11% appreciation potential from present levels.
Broader equity markets offered no support during the memory sector rout. The S&P 500 advanced 0.4%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.3%, and the Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.3% — underscoring that this was an industry-specific event rather than a market-wide phenomenon.
Western Digital’s 52-week high of $799.87 remains visible in the rearview mirror. With shares now hovering around $539, a substantial gap exists between current trading levels and where sell-side analysts project fair value.
Citi’s $800 price target, reaffirmed even amid Monday’s weakness, keeps that upside potential firmly in focus.
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