Western Digital earnings beat

Business · Heat 5.0 / 10 · 2 shows · 9m airtime

Western Digital reported fiscal first-quarter results on October 22, 2026: adjusted EPS of $4.64 against a $4.09 estimate, revenue of $4.38 billion, and a 17 percent dividend increase. It guided second-quarter gross margins to 60 to 61 percent versus a 57.2 percent estimate. The discussion has moved to supply: hard drives are short by over 400 exabytes, more than 20 percent of the market. The stock fell 6.4 percent in the regular session and rose about 2 percent after hours.

How 2 podcasts covered it

1. Closing Bell, 2026-10-22 (9:56 to 10:59)
   Reads the gross margin guide off the release
   Reads the Western Digital print straight off the release: the EPS beat, the revenue beat, the 60 to 61 percent gross margin guide against a 57.2 percent estimate, the dividend raise and 55 percent revenue growth. Notes the stock fell 6.4 percent in the regular session and only gained about 2 percent after hours.
   New angle: Western Digital guided second-quarter gross margins to 60 to 61 percent versus a 57.2 percent estimate.
2. Closing Bell, 2026-10-22 (17:35 to 22:09)
   Adds the dividend raise and drive shortage
   Brings on a Wedbush analyst who argues the beat was better than the whisper number and the stock still did not move, because investors are trading the whole AI spend story. Adds the dividend's size and a hard-drive shortage figure.
   New angle: Western Digital raised its dividend by 17%, and hard drives are short by over 400 exabytes, more than 20% of the market.
3. Prof G Markets, 2026-10-30 (47:42 to 50:53)
   Uses the beat in an anti-bubble argument
   Uses Western Digital's beat as one data point in a broader anti-bubble argument, citing tech earnings growth of 65.6 percent and low PEG ratios for Sandisk, Micron and Western Digital. The earnings figure is a recap, and the estimate is stated slightly differently.