--- title: "Western Digital Stock: Top TD Cowen Analyst Cuts Price Target to $430 but Stays Bullish" type: "News" locale: "en" url: "https://longbridge.com/en/news/302861904.md" description: "TD Cowen analyst Krish Sankar maintained a Buy rating on Western Digital (WDC) but lowered the price target to $430 from $540, citing increased capital spending. Despite the cut, he remains bullish due to strong HDD demand outpacing supply and robust Q1 FY27 earnings that beat estimates. WDC reported EPS of $4.64 and revenue growth of 55.3%, with guidance indicating continued pricing power and margin expansion." datetime: "2026-10-23T10:13:47.000Z" locales: - [zh-CN](https://longbridge.com/zh-CN/news/302861904.md) - [en](https://longbridge.com/en/news/302861904.md) - [zh-HK](https://longbridge.com/zh-HK/news/302861904.md) generator: "portal-rs" --- # Western Digital Stock: Top TD Cowen Analyst Cuts Price Target to $430 but Stays Bullish TD Cowen analyst Krish Sankar kept a Buy rating on Western Digital (WDC) but cut his price target to a Street-low $430 from $540 despite the company's strong Q1 FY27 results. His revised target still implies 21.4% upside potential. Sankar sees further room for WDC stock to rise as demand for hard disk drives (HDDs) remains strong and supply growth lags demand. His $430 target uses a lower 15x earnings multiple (20x earlier) as the firm plans to raise capital spending and boost production. Still, Sankar believes longer-lasting price gains could offset that cut. Sankar is a five-star analyst on TipRanks, ranking #15 out of 12,536 analysts tracked. He has a 65% success rate and an average return per rating of 52.70%. ## **WDC Earnings Beat Street Estimates** WDC reported Q1 FY27 earnings per share (EPS) of $4.64, beating analysts' estimate of $4.11. Revenue rose 55.3% year-over-year to $4.38 billion, topping estimates of $4.14 billion. Sankar noted that WDC gave an EPS outlook of $5.80 for Q2 FY27, about 20% above the $4.80 Wall Street had expected. The forecast also points to gross margins of 60% to 61%, which he sees as a sign of strong pricing power. The firm's outlook implies a high-single-digit rise in average selling prices (ASPs) for the next quarter, with prices up 36% year over year. This follows a 9% rise from the September quarter. Sankar also noted that most of the next quarter's shipments are covered by long-term deals, which have not stopped WDC from raising prices. ## **Higher Spending, but Demand Still Leads** WDC plans to raise capital spending over the next two years to meet rising demand. Sankar sees spending rising from about $750 million in 2026 to $1.8 billion in 2027 and $2.3 billion in 2028. This could lift exabyte supply growth from about 26% in 2026 to 30%–35% in 2027 and 2028. Even so, Sankar sees total demand growth for nearline HDDs and enterprise solid-state drives (SSDs) at 40%–50% next year. Even with more supply from WDC, Toshiba, and Seagate (STX), industry supply may still fall short of demand, added Sankar. ## **Why HDD Prices Could Keep Rising** Sankar sees a key edge for HDD makers, as their drives cost far less per terabyte than NAND-based storage. He expects HDDs to remain 20 to 25 times cheaper per terabyte next year. As a result, cloud firms can still save money by using HDDs, even if WDC raises prices. Sankar puts the saving at about $500 million for each exabyte moved from NAND to HDDs. He sees WDC earning $29 EPS in 2027, based on 30% drive growth and 16% price gains. ## **Is WDC a Strong Buy?** On TipRanks, WDC has a Strong Buy consensus rating based on 14 Buys and three Hold ratings. The average Western Digital price target of $649.56 implies 83.4% upside potential from current levels. Year-to-date, WDC shares have surged 105.8%. ### Related Stocks - [WDC.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/WDC.US.md) - [WDCVV.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/WDCVV.US.md) - [WDCC.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/WDCC.US.md) - [WDCX.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/WDCX.US.md) - [BLSH.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/BLSH.US.md) - [STX.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/STX.US.md) ## Related News & Research - [Western Digital Q1 2027 earnings preview: Analyst sentiment positive across the board](https://longbridge.com/en/news/302600754.md) - [Western Digital Corporation $WDC Stock: Atlatl Advisers LLC Trims Position](https://longbridge.com/en/news/302957120.md) - [Rosenblatt maintains Buy rating on Western Digital, $650 price target](https://longbridge.com/en/news/302875389.md) - [Western Digital Q1 Revenue Surges 55% YoY, Shares Drop Nearly 7%: Can $330 Support Hold?](https://longbridge.com/en/news/302840204.md) - [These Analysts Revise Their Forecasts On Western Digital After Q1 Results](https://longbridge.com/en/news/302884920.md) --- > **Disclaimer: This article is for reference only and does not constitute any investment advice.**