Western Digital Corporation Q2 FY2026 Earnings Call

· Earnings call transcript and AI-powered summary

Company Overview & Strategic Context

  • Western Digital (WDC) reports a strong fiscal 2Q26, driven by surging AI- and cloud-related storage demand.
  • AI workloads (training, inference, physical AI) are driving rapid data creation, boosting the requirement for high‑capacity HDD storage.
  • WDC continues to prioritize hyperscale customers with dedicated teams, enhanced visibility, and multi‑year commercial agreements.
  • HAMR and next‑generation ePMR technologies remain central to WDC’s long‑term capacity and cost‑efficiency roadmap.

Key Financial Results (Fiscal 2Q26)

  • Revenue: 3.0B, up 25% year‑over‑year (YoY), exceeding guidance.
  • EPS: 2.13, up 78% YoY.
  • Total exabytes shipped: 215 EB, up 22% YoY.
  • Cloud revenue: 2.7B (89% of total), up 28% YoY due to strong nearline drive demand.
  • Client revenue: 176M (6% of total), up 26% YoY.
  • Consumer revenue: 168M (5% of total), down 3% YoY.
  • Gross margin: 46.1%, up 770 bps YoY and 220 bps sequentially, driven by mix shift toward higher‑capacity drives and strong cost controls.
  • Operating income: 1B with a margin of 33.8%.
  • Free cash flow: 653M (21.6% margin).
  • Shareholder returns since program inception (4Q25): 1.4B via dividends and buybacks.

Balance Sheet & Capital Allocation

Continue Reading

Unlock the full AI-powered summary with key highlights, financial performance, and analyst Q&A.

Upgrade to Professional
Operator: Good afternoon, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to Western Digital's Second Quarter Fiscal 2026 Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this call is being recorded. Now I will turn the call over to Mr. Ambrish Srivastava, Vice President, Investor Relations. You may begin. Ambrish Srivastava: Thank you, and good afternoon, everyone. Joining me today are Irving Tan, Western Digital's Chief Executive Officer; and Kris Sennesael, Western Digital's Chief Financial Officer. Before we begin, please note that today's discussion will contain forward-looking statements based on management's current assumptions and expectations, which are subject to various risks and uncertainties. These forward-looking statements include expectations for our product portfolio, our business plans and performance, ongoing market trends and our future financial results. We assume no obligation to update these statements. Please refer to our most recent annual report on Form 10-K and our other filings with the SEC for more information on the risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations. In our prepared remarks, our comments will be related to non-GAAP results on a continuing operations basis, unless stated otherwise. Reconciliations between the non-GAAP and comparable GAAP financial measures are included in the press release and other materials that are being posted in the Investor Relations section of our website at investo

Continue Reading

Unlock the full earnings call transcript with speaker labels and formatted dialogue.

Upgrade to Professional