Western Digital (WDC) Moves 4.2% Higher: Will This Strength Last?

Western Digital (WDC) shares ended the last trading session 4.2% higher at $681.08. The jump came on an impressive volume with a higher-than-average number of shares changing hands in the session. This compares to the stock's 42.5% gain over the past four weeks.The increase in share price can be attributed to the company's exposure to AI-driven data center demand and the improving outlook for the storage industry. Rising demand for high-capacity HDDs, particularly from hyperscale cloud providers and AI infrastructure operators, has supported revenue growth and margin expansion. The company hit a fresh 52-week high at $729.92 today.If industry demand remains robust and management continues to execute on its growth strategy, Western Digital could maintain its positive momentum. In June, it demonstrated its Ultrastar HDD portfolio, featuring technologies such as UltraSMR, ePMR and HAMR at the Computex 2026 event. Apart from individual drives, it showcased a range of platform solutions designed for cloud providers, AI companies, neo-cloud operators and high-performance HPC environments, including Ultrastar Data Series JBOD systems, OpenFlex EBOF and RapidFlex NVMe-oF controllers. These platforms help organizations optimize capacity, improve performance, reduce infrastructure complexity and accelerate deployment timelines. This maker of hard drives for businesses and personal computers is expected to post quarterly earnings of $3.32 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of +100%. Revenues are expected to be $3.7 billion, up 42.2% from the year-ago quarter.While earnings and revenue growth expectations are important in evaluating the potential strength in a stock, empirical research shows a strong correlation between trends in earnings estimate revisions and near-term stock price movements.For Western Digital, the consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has been revised 1.9% higher over the last 30 days to the current level. And a positive trend in earnings estimate revision usually translates into price appreciation. So, make sure to keep an eye on WDC going forward to see if this recent jump can turn into more strength down the road. The stock currently carries a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stocks here >>>>Western Digital is part of the Zacks Computer- Storage Devices industry. Super Micro Computer (SMCI), another stock in the same industry, closed the last trading session 5.3% lower at $29.22. SMCI has returned % in the past month.Super Micro's consensus EPS estimate for the upcoming report has changed -0.2% over the past month to $0.7. Compared to the company's year-ago EPS, this represents a change of +70.7%. Super Micro currently boasts a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).Beyond Nvidia: AI's Second Wave Is HereThe AI revolution has already minted millionaires. But the stocks everyone knows about aren't likely to keep delivering the biggest profits. AI’s second wave is moving from infrastructure to implementation and these companies are at the forefront of this transition, positioned to become what Amazon and Google were to the internet era.See Stocks Now >>This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).Zacks Investment ResearchWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks