New York, February 26, 2026, 12:04 (EST) — Regular session.
Shares of Western Digital Corp (WDC.O) slid 5.3% to $275.65 by midday Thursday, slipping as low as $270.56 earlier in the session. The stock had finished Wednesday at $290.95.
Heavy tech names slid, echoing a wider retreat after Nvidia’s numbers stirred valuation jitters. Nvidia dropped roughly 4% and the Nasdaq fell over 1% at the open. “People are getting concerned about lofty valuations,” said Thomas Plumb, chief executive and portfolio manager at Plumb Funds. Reuters
Storage and memory stocks—frequently seen as a secondary AI data-center play—struggled to keep up. Micron, Seagate, and Western Digital each dropped over 6%. Sandisk, though, managed a 3.6% gain, Barron’s said.
Selling pressure hit just days after S&P Global Ratings lifted Western Digital’s credit rating to BBB-, the bottom edge of investment grade, on debt cuts and a projected net cash position, Investing.com said. The firm kept a stable outlook.
Western Digital has been working on its balance sheet. In a Feb. 24 filing, the company said it redeemed both its 2.850% senior notes maturing 2029 and 3.100% senior notes due 2032 after placing funds with the trustee on Feb. 23. Liens tied to the notes were lifted Feb. 19, following the debt repayment. The same filing noted the company’s Series A convertible preferred stock is now gone, with the last shares converted on Feb. 17.
The company’s been pitching its hard drives and flash storage as essential for AI. Back on Jan. 29, it put out a third-quarter adjusted revenue estimate—roughly $3.2 billion, give or take $100 million. Ongoing demand tied to hard drives and flash powering AI servers is expected to keep growth on track, the company said.
Last week, Sandisk announced that Western Digital plans to generate roughly $3.17 billion by unloading a portion of its holdings in the flash-memory company. The move is aimed at trimming debt after the spinoff wrapped up last year.
This stock’s now a volatile proxy for AI hype. If major cloud customers ease up, or storage prices shift, orders and margins could take a hit fast.
Western Digital is up next at Morgan Stanley’s Technology, Media & Telecom Conference—management has the mic at 10:45 a.m. ET on March 3, according to the company. The presentation will be webcast.
