Western Digital Q1 FY27: Revenue Up 55% to $4.38B, Q2 Guided Up 66-72%, Dividend Raised 17%
WDC has more than doubled off its 52-week low of $117.23.
Summary
Western Digital beat on fiscal Q1 with $4.38 billion of revenue (up 55%) and $4.64 non-GAAP EPS, then guided Q2 revenue up 66-72% year-over-year to about $5.1 billion at 60.5% gross margin. The dividend rose 17% to $0.175, and the company repurchased $1.0 billion of stock in the quarter.
Key Events · Earnings and Guidance · WDC
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Q1 FY27 Revenue Up 55% to $4.38B
Revenue of $4.38 billion versus $2.82 billion a year ago, with GAAP gross margin at 57.8% (up 1,430 bps year-over-year) and GAAP diluted EPS of $4.63.
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Q2 Guided to 66-72% Revenue Growth
Midpoint guidance is $5.1 billion of revenue, 60.5% non-GAAP gross margin and $5.80 non-GAAP EPS, on roughly 380 million diluted shares.
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Dividend Raised 17% to $0.175
Board declared $0.175 per share payable December 17, 2026 to stockholders of record December 4, 2026, up from the prior quarterly rate.
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$1.0B Buyback and $1.38B Free Cash Flow
Cash flow from operations was $1.60 billion and free cash flow $1.38 billion; the company repurchased $1,001 million of common stock and paid $56 million of dividends in the quarter.
Analysis · WDC · Technology
Western Digital's fiscal Q1 2027 beat the prior year on every line: revenue of $4.38 billion (up 55%), non-GAAP gross margin of 58.1% versus 43.9% a year ago, and non-GAAP EPS of $4.64 versus $1.78. But the forward guide matters more. Q2 revenue of about $5.1 billion at the midpoint implies 66-72% year-over-year growth, with gross margin guided to 60.5%. That tells investors the HDD pricing and AI-driven storage demand cycle is still accelerating rather than peaking — the central debate after the stock fell 19% on the August print and another 10% on the October 2 report that Toshiba plans to double HDD capacity. Management also raised the quarterly dividend 17% to $0.175 and bought back $1.0 billion of stock in the quarter, backed by $1.38 billion of free cash flow. Supply is the risk: if Toshiba and peers add capacity faster than demand, the 60%+ margins embedded in guidance are the first thing to compress.
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In the 30 days to Oct 22, 2026, 36.9% of the 1013 measured filings Wiseek scored 8 moved their stock by 5% or more by the next session's close. The median move was -0.77%. These are measured outcomes after filings of this importance, not a forecast for this one.
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At the time of this filing, WDC was trading at $365.42 on NASDAQ in the Technology sector, with a market capitalization of approximately $132.6B. The 52-week trading range was $117.23 to $799.87. This filing was assessed with positive market sentiment and an importance score of 8 out of 10.