WDC +2%: Big beat-and-raise cleared the buyside bar on every line; GM about in line with high end of buyside bogeys; Dec guide came in above the bulls’ ~$5B.
Pretty solid numbers overall. Don’t hear many investors asking why stock isn’t up more given semis investors have become immune to the anemic price action (see LRCX & NOK today) despite WDC being down 25% MTD. Will be interesting to see how this acts tomorrow.
Sept-Q revenue of $4.38B (+55% y/y, +17% q/q) came in above the top of the guide and the ~$4.25–4.3B bogey. GM of 58.1% was at the high end of what buyside had. EPS of $4.64 was ~13% above Street and ~5–8% above the bogey. Dec guide looks good: Revenue of $5.1B is ~12% above Street and well past the ~$4.7–4.8B bogey. GM is guided to 60.5% at the midpoint, ~330bps above Street and ~1.5–2pts above the bogey, and EPS to $5.80 vs. $4.78 Street and ~$5.00–5.20 bogeys. Implied op margin steps up to ~52–53% from 49%.