Western Digital (WDC) & Its Rivals Critical Contrast

Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC – Get Free Report) is one of 82 publicly-traded companies in the “Technology Hardware, Storage & Peripherals” industry, but how does it compare to its peers? We will compare Western Digital to similar companies based on the strength of its earnings, dividends, risk, valuation, profitability, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Profitability

This table compares Western Digital and its peers’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

92.5% of Western Digital shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 51.3% of shares of all “Technology Hardware, Storage & Peripherals” companies are owned by institutional investors. 0.2% of Western Digital shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 9.3% of shares of all “Technology Hardware, Storage & Peripherals” companies are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of current ratings and price targets for Western Digital and its peers, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

Western Digital presently has a consensus target price of $520.32, indicating a potential downside of 4.50%. As a group, “Technology Hardware, Storage & Peripherals” companies have a potential upside of 28.06%. Given Western Digital’s peers higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Western Digital has less favorable growth aspects than its peers.

Risk & Volatility

Western Digital has a beta of 2.11, meaning that its share price is 111% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Western Digital’s peers have a beta of 1.59, meaning that their average share price is 59% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Western Digital pays an annual dividend of $0.60 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.1%. Western Digital pays out 3.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Technology Hardware, Storage & Peripherals” companies pay a dividend yield of 3.4% and pay out 41.3% of their earnings in the form of a dividend.

Valuation and Earnings

This table compares Western Digital and its peers revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

Western Digital’s peers have higher revenue and earnings than Western Digital. Western Digital is trading at a higher price-to-earnings ratio than its peers, indicating that it is currently more expensive than other companies in its industry.

Summary

Western Digital beats its peers on 10 of the 15 factors compared.

About Western Digital

(Get Free Report)

Western Digital Corporation develops, manufactures, and sells data storage devices and solutions in the United States, China, Hong Kong, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, rest of Asia, and internationally. It offers client devices, including hard disk drives (HDDs) and solid state drives (SSDs) for desktop and notebook personal computers (PCs), gaming consoles, and set top boxes; and flash-based embedded storage products for mobile phones, tablets, notebook PCs, and other portable and wearable devices, as well as automotive, Internet of Things, industrial, and connected home applications. The company also provides enterprise HDDs; enterprise SSDs consisting of flash-based SSDs and software solutions for use in enterprise servers, online transactions, data analysis, and other enterprise applications; and data storage platforms. In addition, it offers external HDD storage products in mobile and desktop form; client portable SSDs; removable cards that are used in consumer devices comprising mobile phones, tablets, imaging systems, and cameras and smart video systems; universal serial bus flash drives for use in the computing and consumer markets; and wireless drive products used in-field backup of created content, as well as wireless streaming of high-definition movies, photos, music, and documents to tablets, smartphones, and PCs. The company sells its products under the Western Digital, SanDisk, and WD brands to original equipment manufacturers, distributors, dealers, resellers, and retailers. Western Digital Corporation was founded in 1970 and is headquartered in San Jose, California.