New York, Feb 12, 2026, 13:24 EST — Session underway
- Shares of Western Digital surged over 7%, briefly climbing past the $300 mark during Thursday’s session.
- Seagate, a storage peer, climbed despite a tech-driven sell-off dragging major U.S. indexes down.
- Friday’s U.S. CPI report is the next big macro test for investors.
Western Digital’s stock climbed 7.3% to $293.84 on Thursday, even hitting $306.87 earlier in the day. That’s notably strong compared to the S&P 500 and Nasdaq, which fell roughly 1.2% and 1.6%, respectively. 1
The outperformance arrives amid investors’ efforts to sift through AI hype and actual earnings, leaving the market unsettled. “We see this as a ‘prove it’ year for AI,” said Jack Herr, primary investment analyst at GuideStone Funds, noting that traders are demanding companies demonstrate returns on heavy investments. 2
Memory storage stocks stood out as a rare bright spot while investors pulled back from tech shares overall. Seagate, Western Digital, and Sandisk ranked among the biggest gainers in the S&P 500, according to Investopedia. 3
Seagate shares jumped 8.7% to $442.70. Meanwhile, NetApp dropped 7.9% and Pure Storage slid 6.2%, highlighting that the bid isn’t lifting all storage stocks equally.
Western Digital came off a solid day, finishing Wednesday up 4.26% at $273.74 with roughly 9.3 million shares traded, according to MarketWatch data. 4
Western Digital is capitalizing on the surge in AI data-center expansion. CFO Kris Sennesael told Investors that around 80% of cloud storage still depends on hard-disk drives. The company is targeting a 20% compound annual revenue growth and aims for earnings per share to surpass $20 within three to five years.
At its Innovation Day event on Feb. 3, Western Digital, now simply WD, unveiled a high-capacity drive roadmap aimed squarely at AI-focused customers. The company revealed a 40TB UltraSMR ePMR drive currently undergoing qualification with two hyperscale clients — the biggest cloud operators. Volume production is set for the latter half of 2026. Meanwhile, HAMR (heat-assisted magnetic recording) is expected to ramp up in 2027, with plans to hit 100TB capacity by 2029. 5
WD is aiming to calm investors about its spending by promising to return cash. “The expanded $4.0 billion buyback authorization underscores our confidence in WD’s future,” CEO Irving Tan said in a statement on Feb. 3. 6
That surge has driven Western Digital’s valuation into trickier territory, making its next move potentially volatile. AAII reported a P/E ratio of 25.6 for the stock, which sits above the industry median they referenced. They also highlighted at least one analyst downgrade in the last month. 7
Traders are eyeing Friday’s U.S. Consumer Price Index report for January, set to drop at 8:30 a.m. ET. Any unexpected inflation numbers could shake up rate expectations and send ripples through high-multiple tech and hardware stocks. 8
