WDC Stock: Western Digital Earnings Miss Estimates

Western Digital (WDC) reported quarterly results late Tuesday that beat revenue estimates but fell short on earnings. WDC stock dropped.

The maker of disk drives and memory chips reported an adjusted loss of 42 cents a share on revenue of $3.11 billion. Analysts expected Western Digital to show an adjusted loss of 15 cents on revenue of $2.99 billion.

The loss included $100 million of charges related to underutilization in hard disk drives, the company said.

WDC stock dropped 5.6% to 41.48 during after-hours trading on the stock market today.

The report comes as the memory-chip market is suffering one of its most difficult times ever. Western Digital’s report follows that of disk-drive rival Seagate Technology (STX). Seagate reported better-than-expected earnings results last week, during what the company called tough macroeconomic conditions.

“The Western Digital team delivered revenue at the high end of our guidance range, despite a challenging flash price environment and continued cloud inventory digestion,” Chief Executive David Goeckeler said in a written statement with the earnings release.

WDC Stock: Talks Of Possible Merger

Western Digital is rumored to be in advanced talks for a possible merger with Japan’s Kioxia Holdings, according to a report from Bloomberg.

Bloomberg said a combined Western Digital and Kioxia would control a third of the NAND flash market, putting it on par with South Korea’s Samsung Electronics.

Kioxia was spun out from Toshiba. Further, Kioxia and Western Digital jointly produce flash memory chips in Japan.

In June, Western Digital announced a review of strategic alternatives following discussions with activist investor Elliott Investment Management. The plan could result in the separation of its two businesses — disk drives and memory chips.

Also, WDC stock has an IBD Composite rating of 34 out of 99.

Please follow Brian Deagon on Twitter at @IBD_BDeagon for more on tech stocks, analysis and financial markets.

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