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Western Digital Shares Climb on Progress in Thailand, Outlook (WDC)

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Western Digital CorpShares of Western Digital Corp. (NYSE: WDC) have risen sharply in trading today after the Lake Forest, California-based company provided an update on its operations in flood-hit Thailand. Shares are also rising after the company gave an upbeat outlook for the fourth quarter.

Western Digital today said that it expects fourth-quarter revenue of at least $1.8 billion. The company had previously said that it expects fourth-quarter revenue to come in between $1.05 billion and $1.25 billion. The company expects gross margin to come in above the high end of its business model range of 18% to 23%.


Western Digital also provided an update on its operations in flood-hit Thailand. The company said that it restarted production of hard drives this week in one of its buildings in Bang Pa-In, Thailand, a week ahead of schedule.

Commenting on the operations in Thailand, John Coyne, CEO of Western Digital, said that much work remains to be done but the company could not be more pleased with the effort and results thus far, including the tremendous support from its supply partners and customers.

Western Digital said that it expects to restart production of hard drive head sliders at Bang Pa-In in the first quarter of 2012. However, the company’s hard drive facilities at Navanakorn are still under water. The site is expected to be pumped dry within the next 10 days.

The company expects to register a one-time charge of $225-$275 million due to floods in the December quarter.

The progress in Thailand and upbeat outlook lifted Western Digital shares in trading today. At last check, Western Digital shares were trading 8.27% higher at $31.67 on above average volume of 8.88 million.

Western Digital shares are down 6.46% this year, compared with a decline of 0.66% for the S&P 500.

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edliston
Post Written By: Ed Liston

Ed Liston is a senior contributing editor at TheStockMarketWatch.com. An active market watcher and investor, Ed guides an independent team of experienced analysts and writes for multiple stock trader publications. He is widely quoted in various financial publications on the Internet. When Ed is not writing about stocks, investing in stocks, talking about stocks, or otherwise doing something stock related, he likes to go sailing and fishing in his yacht.


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Ed Liston

Ed Liston is a senior contributing editor at TheStockMarketWatch.com. An active market watcher and investor, Ed guides an independent team of experienced analysts and writes for multiple stock trader publications. He is widely quoted in various financial publications on the Internet. When Ed is not writing about stocks, investing in stocks, talking about stocks, or otherwise doing something stock related, he likes to go sailing and fishing.

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