New York, Feb 17, 2026, 11:41 (EST) — Regular session
- Western Digital traded between $272.69 and $288.13, with shares last up 0.1% at $281.97 in late-morning action.
- The stock outperformed a number of storage peers, many of which ended the session in the red.
- Tighter hard-drive supply expected for 2026 is pushing pricing power and cloud demand back into the spotlight, according to new reports.
Western Digital Corp moved wildly Tuesday, bouncing between a low of $272.69 and $288.13 before settling up just 0.1% at $281.97 by late morning.
This shift is significant: Western Digital now serves as a bellwether for data-center storage demand linked to AI workloads. Customers eager to secure supply ahead of time are driving this trend. Should that crunch prove genuine, prices may hold up better—and cash flow could look steadier for a business once prone to swings from PC cycles.
Investors are moving quickly into storage and memory stocks this year, targeting segments of the AI infrastructure that run behind the scenes. Sandisk, which separated from Western Digital in February 2025, is out in front, topping the S&P 500’s leaderboard for the year. Western Digital and Seagate are right up there too, ranking among the index’s strongest names so far, according to Investors.com.
Seagate dropped close to 2% Tuesday. Micron slipped 1%. Sandisk was off by about 2% as well. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF barely budged.
Tom’s Hardware reported that CEO Irving Tan, speaking on the company’s quarterly call, said Western Digital is “pretty much sold out for calendar 2026,” pointing to firm purchase orders—signed deals—from its top seven customers. The outlet also noted that Western Digital already has long-term agreements, or LTAs, locked in that run through 2027 and 2028. Tom’s Hardware
That sort of booking sends a signal: this isn’t just about units sold, it’s about pricing power and clearer demand lines. And there’s something else—it tells you the big cloud players, those hyperscalers, are locking in future supply early, hedging against possible shortages down the road.
The AI story has its soft spot: spending. According to Investopedia, a Bank of America fund manager survey found more investors than ever believe firms are pouring too much into AI. This week won’t let up, either. The Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) price index — the Fed’s favored inflation metric — lands Friday, after Thursday’s U.S. GDP numbers.
Traders are watching to see if the squeeze on supply actually hits prices and margins, beyond just talk. If cloud customers pull back on orders or capacity ramps up quicker than forecasts, the stock could get tossed around once more.
Western Digital posted fiscal Q2 revenue of $3.02 billion, with adjusted earnings coming in at $2.13 a share. Looking ahead to the fiscal third quarter, CFO Kris Sennesael is guiding for revenue around $3.2 billion at the midpoint and sees non-GAAP EPS landing at $2.30. The company set a dividend of $0.125 per share, payable March 18 to shareholders on record as of March 5 — that’s the next firm catalyst marked on the calendar.
