Why Is Western Digital (WDC) Stock Rocketing Higher Today
Stock Story
Published Jan 22, 2024 11:58AM ET
Updated Jan 22, 2024 12:31PM ET
Why Is Western Digital (WDC) Stock Rocketing Higher Today
What Happened: Shares of leading data storage manufacturer Western Digital (NASDAQ: NASDAQ:WDC) jumped 5.2% in the pre-market session after Morgan Stanley named the company a "Top Pick" replacing Nividia. The firm raised WDC's price target from $52 to $73. The new price target represents a potential 30% upside from where shared traded was when the upgrade was announced. It added, "The valuation disparity between Western Digital and peers is extremely compelling, particularly in light of the second-half separation of the memory business, which should unlock the sum of the parts values. Business is getting better at a rapid rate, and there are pluses and minuses to the NAND cycle."
Separately, major indices continued to rise after the S&P made an all-time high on Friday, 19 January 2024, above the previous highs set in January 2022. Tech stocks have outperformed since the second half of 2023 with expectations that the Fed will cut rates in 2024. Other than continued momentum from this dynamic, we haven't observed any other specific macro or economic developments to explain the market strength. After the initial pop the shares cooled down to $57.47, up 4.9% from previous close.
Is now the time to buy Western Digital? Find out by reading the original article on StockStory.
What is the market telling us: Western Digital's shares are quite volatile and over the last year have had 10 moves greater than 5%. In context of that, today's move is indicating the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.
The previous big move we wrote about was 6 days ago, when the company gained 5% after the stock earned a double rating upgrade from Wall Street analysts. Deutsche Bank analyst Sidney Ho upgraded the stock's rating from Hold to Buy and raised the price target from $45 to $65. The price target indicates a potential 25% upside from where shares traded when the upgrade was announced.
Similarly, Barclays raised the WDC's rating from Equal Weight (Hold) to Overweight (Buy) and added it to its list of favorite stocks for the "2nd Wave of AI." The list featured other semiconductor stocks like AMD (NASDAQ:AMD), Coherent (NYSE:NYSE:COHR), NXP Semiconductors (NASDAQ:NXPI), and Camtek (NASDAQ:CAMT).
Get The News You Want
Western Digital is up 12.9% since the beginning of the year. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Western Digital's shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $1,529.
Written By: Stock Story
Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.