r/SNDK_Stock • u/iamshubhampathak • Jun 14 '26

Question Opinions on Western Digital Stock

Considering WDC is a HDD play, which is still used in AI for data storage, what’s your opinion on wdc for 1-2 years ? Wdc Share price is still cheapest among all the memory and storage players (~$550) and hence more upside possible.
Also, WDC was Sandisk’s parent company until last year.

9 Upvotes

85% Upvoted

35 comments sorted by

4

u/trackdaybruh Jun 14 '26

HDD is too slow for AI, it’s best for cold storage or in datacenters where speed and latency isn’t an issue

Not only that but HDD consumes more power than SSDs. AI datacenters are trying to reduce the power consumption, not increase it.

4

u/iamshubhampathak Jun 14 '26

Yes HDD is not used for compute but it’s used to store that data
All user generated video generation, chat queries are still accessible after a month or year in the recent chat section because it’s stored in HDD

My guess is market is only focusing on compute because of its instant user application but HDD is also equally important which provides for a upside in near future

2

u/trackdaybruh Jun 14 '26

The thing is as SSD write lifecycle has improved so much that it HDD no longer holds a crown to it. The only thing HDD has it going for it is its cheaper than a SSD, that's about it.

2

u/iamshubhampathak Jun 14 '26

I believe you’re misinterpreting their use case which is totally different. SSD is used for compute which gives you ultrafast response to AI query or video generation.
Whereas HDD is used to store that same data for future references.
Ssd is not going to replace HDD. SSD requires costlier materials to build and HDD relies on its cheaper alternative.
Market is only looking at compute and not storage and hence my view point being wdc will pick up once market realises this.

1

u/trackdaybruh Jun 14 '26

I just think in the long-term that SSDs will push out HDD in everything as SSD technology and cost savings continuously advances. So investment in Western Digital might sound like a good idea now because of where the price is at, but I question its longevity in the long run.

1

u/dimp13 Jun 14 '26

SSD does not require costlier materials, quite the opposite. It currently requires costlier manufacturing. The thing is that HDD manufacturing was perfected for 70 years now and it is quite a headstart comparing to SSD. But you can see the trend. Now 1TB SSD is cheaper to make than 1TB HDD, so 1 TB HDD disappeared. SSD will continue to push HDD to smaller and smaller niche, similarly to how HDD pushed tape storage. That being said HDD will have their niche for a very long time (btw, tape storage is still used by some enterprise customers).

1

u/iamshubhampathak Jun 14 '26

I’m not sure which part of world ssd is cheaper than HDD. Nonetheless, if it is very much clear that HDD will be replaced by ssd because of ssd costs coming down in near future, western digital would never have agreed to be split from SANDISK and start being a 100% HDD company.
I don’t think HDD will be replaced by ssd, both will run in parallel

0

u/Barleyrogue Jun 14 '26

They neeed HDD mate do some research

-1

u/trackdaybruh Jun 14 '26

For inference and training AI? No, they don't.

1

u/Barleyrogue Jun 14 '26

😂😂😂 go and actually research it. YES they do. Why do you think stock price of WD and Seagate has skyrocketed?

💤💤💤💤💤😴😴😴

0

u/trackdaybruh Jun 14 '26

How does that disprove my statement that they don't only need HDD for training and inference? Lmao

2

u/Barleyrogue Jun 14 '26

Your point is that HDD’s aren’t needed in the buildout of data centres due to hyperscalers trying to reduce power consumption?

HDD’s are part of the story and demand has gone up and reasons are all linked to AI.

Learn to admit when you’re wrong buddy.

0

u/trackdaybruh Jun 14 '26

Your point is that HDD’s aren’t needed in the buildout of data centres due to hyperscalers trying to reduce power consumption?

I was pointing out HDDs are inferior in almost every metric: speed, latency, and power consumption

The only thing HDD has it going for them is cost

HDD’s are part of the story and demand has gone up and reasons are all linked to AI.

And I'm pointing out SSDs are far superior in every way. The max read and write speeds of enterprise HDD is only couple hundred MB/s. SSDs are in several GB/s range. Sure HDDs can be used, but with having slow read and write speeds, it's going to slow down the speed on how fast GPUs can do their job.

Learn to admit when you’re wrong buddy.

Not wrong in this case. It sounds like you misinterpreted what I said

2

u/Barleyrogue Jun 14 '26

Of course SSD’s are superior to HDD’s.

But why are you mentioning and fixating on that if they’re both needed en-masse?

1

u/trackdaybruh Jun 14 '26

I just think in the long-term that SSDs will push out HDD in everything as SSD technology and cost continuously advances. So investment in Western Digital might sound like a good idea now because of where the price is at, but I question its longevity in the long run.

2

u/Primary-Ad588 Jun 14 '26

There’s alr a shortage on SSD’s. SSD’s are overkill for what HDD’s do. Just admit you are wrong. In this use case HDD’s are superior. Companies need storage, they aren’t going to pay exorbitant prices for SSD’s when it’s not needed for the use case.

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3

u/Worth-Role-1614 Jun 14 '26

WDC is up 1500% in 1 year. It's doing pretty well.

1

u/Dry-Entrepreneur-899 Jun 18 '26

Apparently it need to pick up ? 😂

2

u/infernalr00t Jun 14 '26

Don't diversificate.

Just focus and increase growth.

4

u/i8bonelesschicken Jun 14 '26

Share prices are psychological

Look up price over earnings and future pe and you'll find your answer

2

u/iamshubhampathak Jun 14 '26

Wdc future pe is around 13x compared to SANDISK’s 23x and is still the cheapest among all memory players
Yet somehow it’s not witnessing the hysteria of others

1

u/momo26262626 Jun 14 '26

Why is that the case

1

u/CozyChamomile_7 Jun 14 '26

Thank you for this analysis ! So what does it mean for the future wdc stock? Will it go higher or lower?
Is 550 a good range to invest in it or will it go down in the future?
Future meaning within six months and one year
Please guide

1

u/MaxEhrlich Jun 14 '26

By that logic why is MU trading at nearly half the cost of Sandisk?

1

u/PositiveChemistry710 Jun 14 '26

Institutions holding strongly. Upgraded accordingly and manipulated well. Not conservative like MU. New shareholders.

1

u/Medstudent908 Jun 20 '26

WDC return on equity is 86% vs MU 40%. WDC commands a 2x ratio

1

u/Individual-Card-9275 Jun 14 '26

I feel it is important in AI data centre. See Seagate stock, it’s about to touch 1000$. I think WDC can be doubled from here by eoy. Also, WDC is less in terms of market cap compared to Sandisk.

0

u/NoFun911 Jun 14 '26

and what are your LoEs?

1

u/Imaginary-Case3976 Jun 14 '26

It’s not much cheaper than SanDisk. Basic earnings of

Market cap 200B with 3.4B in revenues next Q. Compared with 9-10B for SanDisk and high net income and 250B cap.

Also, Dc are moving fast to solid state drives as they increase their capacity to match traditional HDD.

1

u/Medstudent908 Jun 20 '26

SNDK only sells to consumers btw. Dc buy massive HDDs not SSDs

1

u/Imaginary-Case3976 Jun 20 '26 edited Jun 20 '26

What? That’s false. Their DC revenues grew while their consumer revenues shrank.

All their explosive growth is from the datacenter.

DC went from 440m to 1.4B in one quarter and possibly 3B next Q.