Western Digital Shares Plunge 50%: Is It the Best Time to Buy?
Western Digital Stock Price Trend Review
TradingKey - On January 2, 2026, Western Digital (WDC) opened at $177. Subsequently, driven by explosive demand for high-capacity HDDs and enterprise SSDs from global AI data centers and cloud service providers, its stock price surged. In mid-June 2026, WDC's stock price hit an all-time high of $799.87, bringing its maximum gain within six months to as high as 350%.
Western Digital stock price chart, source: TradingView
After approaching the $800 psychological mark, Western Digital's stock price plunged sharply starting in late June and accelerated its downward move from July to early August. In early August, its stock price touched a low of $407, bringing the maximum drawdown to 49%. Currently, Western Digital's stock price is consolidating in the $400–$460 range, with its year-to-date gain narrowing to around 150%.
Why Western Digital Stock Is Falling
This sharp drop in Western Digital's stock price was not a collapse of corporate fundamentals, but primarily a market correction following elevated expectations and technical deleveraging. According to the financial report released in early August, revenue rose 44% year-over-year to $3.75 billion, with both EPS and gross margin beating expectations. However, this failed to reverse the downward trend, and the stock plummeted 13% after the release of the earnings report.
Entering the second half of the year, market concerns grew over AI capital expenditure crowding out other spending, with investors believing hyperscale cloud data centers might temporarily reduce or delay procurement and refresh cycles for high-capacity enterprise HDDs to purchase expensive GPU chips and liquid cooling equipment. Impacted by this, the entire storage and AI hardware sector underwent concentrated deleveraging and valuation adjustments between July and August.
Most notably in mid-July, benchmark South Korean memory maker SK Hynix (SKHY) plunged over 15% in a single day due to downward profit forecast revisions, triggering a global sell-off and deleveraging across the semiconductor and storage sectors. Shares of companies such as Micron Technology (MU), Seagate Technology (STX), and others plummeted across the board, continuing to drag down WDC stock.
Wall Street Western Digital Stock Price Forecast: Bullish Target Up to $1,050
Currently, Wall Street institutions show significant divergence regarding Western Digital's 12-month target price, but targets are generally higher than the current price, with ratings of at least Hold, as follows:
Investment Institution / Brokerage | 12-Month Target Price | Latest Rating | Core View / Rationale |
Melius Research | $1,050 | Strong Buy | Believes data storage demand for AI infrastructure is significantly underestimated, and enterprise SSD prices possess substantial elasticity. |
Cantor Fitzgerald | $900 | Strong Buy | Firmly bullish on the rigid demand of AI data centers, pointing out that recent pullbacks provide an excellent entry point with a favorable risk-reward ratio. |
Bank of America | $732 | Strong Buy | Recognizes the advantage of its high proportion of cloud revenue, expecting mass production of high-capacity HDDs to drive up overall average selling prices in the second half of the year. |
JPMorgan / Morgan Stanley | $650 | Buy / Overweight | Optimistic about the 25%+ CAGR in Exabyte-scale storage demand over the next 3–5 years; HDDs remain the most cost-effective and irreplaceable choice for data centers. |
Barclays | $620 | Overweight / Buy | Emphasizes that storage is the most attractive sub-segment in the semiconductor sector alongside compute chips. |
Susquehanna | $500 | Hold / Neutral | Points out that capital expenditure and gross margin during the technology transition period are slightly lower than competitor Seagate. |
Should You Buy Western Digital Stock Now?
Although institutions generally hold a positive and optimistic attitude toward Western Digital's stock price, technical analysis indicates that WDC's share price still faces short-term pullback pressure. Over the past month, although Western Digital has generally fluctuated within a wide range of $400–$570, its stock price has continuously fallen to new lows while rebound peaks have also declined, indicating that bears are still in control of the market.
Currently, Western Digital is finding support at $400, an important round-number level and a key psychological line of defense in this major bull market. However, $240–$300 is an even stronger defense zone, where WDC's stock price previously experienced months of narrow-range consolidation and technical repair within this continuation platform.
Western Digital stock price chart, Source: TradingView
After a sharp compression of nearly 45%, Western Digital's forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio has undergone significant de-bubbling. Combining this with the technical analysis above, investors can choose whether to buy its stock based on their preferences. If you have a high risk tolerance, you can build a small position at the current level. If you are more conservative, you can wait for a further pullback. Alternatively, you can build a position in tranches—first establishing a base position around $400, and later waiting for market volatility to pull back to $300 before adding to your position.
Conclusion
Western Digital's stock price has plunged nearly 50% from its peak, primarily due to sector deleveraging triggered by concerns over AI capex crowding out spending, rather than deteriorating fundamentals. Wall Street's consensus target price ranges from $500 to $1,050, backed by optimism over the inelastic demand for AI storage. While current valuations have substantially deflated, technicals remain dominated by bears. It is recommended to build positions in tranches, establishing a base position at $400 and adding more on a pullback to $300.
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