Western Digital Corporation

Jim Cramer said Monday that growing political opposition to data center construction is shifting the advantage toward the largest technology companies at the expense of smaller, speculative developers. The "Mad Money" host said the data center thesis, perhaps the greatest investment theme in a generation, is now under attack and may never be the same, citing Pennsylvania and Texas as illustrations where governors once advocates for data center growth have lately demanded more stringent conditions on new projects. Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft, and Meta are best positioned to navigate the new landscape, Cramer argued, because the scale of their balance sheets lets them clear regulatory and community hurdles that would be prohibitive for smaller operators. He added that if speculative developers exit the market, hyperscalers could face less pressure on land, power, and workforce availability, which might translate into lower construction costs as they press ahead with AI infrastructure. Cramer cautioned that with the buildout trajectory in question, the market may no longer justify elevated multiples for suppliers like GE Vernova, which makes gas turbines, or memory-chip companies including Micron, Sandisk, Western Digital, and Seagate, regardless of how robust end demand proves to be. Despite his more cautious outlook for parts of the data center trade, Cramer stopped short of calling the broader theme finished, saying rules can be crafted and communities can be appeased, but the unbridled buildout is most likely over.

Baidu shares plunged 12.7% after the company reported second-quarter 2026 adjusted earnings of $1.06 per share, widely missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.51. Western Digital shares slid 7.4% amid a rough session for tech stocks. ExxonMobil Holdings shares rose 2.5% as energy emerged as one of the biggest winning sectors. Amer Sports shares gained 3.2% after reporting second-quarter fiscal 2026 adjusted earnings of 22 cents per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 11 cents.

SanDisk, the flash-memory business spun off from Western Digital, outlined a US$93.9 billion customer backlog at its recent Investor Day and is targeting 80% margins through 2030, with management linking the outlook to demand for AI-related storage solutions. The update gives Western Digital investors fresh context on how the split is reshaping exposure to higher-margin storage opportunities, as Western Digital remains focused on hard disk drive storage across the US, Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Africa. SanDisk's backlog and margin targets highlight how the separation concentrates much of the flash and AI-oriented storage exposure in the spin-off entity rather than the parent, leaving Western Digital more concentrated in capacity-driven cloud and AI archives. The core Western Digital narrative still leans on deep hyperscaler partnerships, ePMR and UltraSMR adoption, and the future HAMR roadmap, not on NAND margins, and SanDisk's outlook reinforces one of the key narrative risks: Western Digital's dependence on a narrower set of technologies and a concentrated group of cloud customers for long-term growth. Investors can track whether management points to multi-year hyperscaler contracts and healthy uptake of UltraSMR and upcoming HAMR products at events such as the Open Storage Summit on 11 August 2026 as confirmation that the HDD-focused model is gaining traction.

U.S. stocks were mixed on Thursday as a rebound in chipmakers and stronger-than-expected economic data helped offset a sell-off in software shares following disappointing earnings. The S&P 500 edged up 0.07%, the Dow fell 0.38%, and the Nasdaq 100 added 0.26%. Datadog tumbled over 14% after reporting second-quarter adjusted gross margin below consensus, dragging down other software names including Salesforce, Atlassian, and Workday. AppLovin sank 19% on a revenue miss, while memory chipmakers Western Digital and SanDisk fell sharply after SanDisk forecast first-quarter revenue of $10.30 billion to $10.80 billion, below the $11.16 billion consensus. Limiting losses, ARM Holdings rose more than 5% and ASML, ON Semiconductor, and Marvel Technology gained over 2%, while Paycom Software surged 22% after raising its full-year revenue outlook to $2.20 billion to $2.21 billion, above estimates. Weekly jobless claims rose by 1,000 to 199,000, better than the 205,000 expected, and second-quarter nonfarm productivity increased 1.4%, exceeding the 0.6% forecast. A Financial Times report that Fed Chair Warsh is willing to raise rates in September if inflation firms weighed on sentiment, while crude oil rose over 1% after Yemen's Houthi rebels said they targeted a Saudi oil tanker in the Gulf of Aden.

Sandisk Corp. projected fiscal first-quarter revenue of $10.3 billion to $10.8 billion and adjusted earnings of $44 to $46 per share, both above Wall Street estimates, yet its stock fell sharply before the opening bell and dragged down the broader memory-chip sector. Western Digital dropped by double digits, while Micron and Seagate fell roughly 4%, and SK Hynix and Samsung also suffered steep declines in South Korea. The sell-off reflects how elevated investor expectations have become after memory and storage stocks surged on demand from artificial-intelligence data centers, with strong results no longer sufficient when continued growth and higher memory prices are already priced in. Demand from data centers remains healthy, but weaker consumer electronics and personal-computer markets could limit some of that momentum.

Micron Technology fell more than 3% in premarket trading after Sandisk's forward guidance raised concerns that the memory industry's rapid growth is heavily dependent on pricing gains rather than volume increases. Sandisk reported stronger-than-expected quarterly revenue and earnings, but management noted that roughly two-thirds of its recent revenue growth came from higher prices, with only one-third from increased shipment volumes. Consumer memory revenue dropped 32% sequentially to $556 million, and Sandisk expects personal-computer and smartphone shipments to decline by a mid-teen percentage this year, highlighting weakness outside AI data centers. The selloff spread across the sector, with Western Digital, SK Hynix, and Samsung also declining sharply. Investors will now focus on Micron's upcoming shipment growth and pricing commentary for evidence that AI demand can sustain the rally without relying mainly on higher prices.

Western Digital stock plunged 11.7% through 10:30 a.m. ET Thursday despite beating on both sales and earnings in its fiscal Q4 2026 update. The company reported non-GAAP earnings of $3.56 per share on sales of $3.75 billion, exceeding analyst expectations of $3.29 per share on sales of less than $3.7 billion. GAAP earnings reached $8.21 per share, up 1,125% year over year, driven by a 44% surge in sales fueled by AI-related demand for computer memory. For fiscal Q1 2027, Western Digital guided for sales growth of 42% to 49%, with projected revenue between $4 billion and $4.2 billion and non-GAAP earnings between $3.85 and $4.15, also above consensus. The sell-off occurred despite accelerating growth and an upbeat outlook, with one analyst calling the decline unjustified and expecting a quick reversal.

Storage and memory stocks sold off sharply early Thursday, with Western Digital shares sliding 16% to $437, SanDisk stock dropping 11% to $1,198, and Micron Technology falling 6% to $844. The declines came despite both Western Digital and SanDisk beating fiscal Q4 2026 estimates after Wednesday's close, as their outlooks failed to clear a sky-high bar set by year-to-date rallies that had SanDisk up 469% and Western Digital up 202%. SanDisk guided Q1 FY27 revenue to $10.3 billion to $10.8 billion, with the midpoint below the $10.8 billion consensus, even as CEO David Goeckeler said SanDisk now has over four years of demand visibility and signed five new long-term deals worth $94 billion in minimum revenue and $91 billion in remaining performance obligations. The selloff extended across the group, with Seagate Technology down 6% to $786 and the Roundhill Memory ETF declining 7% to $50, while analysts trimmed targets but remained constructive, with UBS lowering its Western Digital price target to $525 from $560 and Citi opening an upside 90-day view on SanDisk stock.

U.S. stock index futures were little changed on Thursday as investors weighed a potential Strait of Hormuz reopening and renewed AI spending concerns. Paycom Software surged 13.1% after reporting adjusted earnings of $2.78 per share, well above the $2.38 estimate, on revenue of $531.2 million. Data storage companies declined sharply, with Western Digital slumping 14.6% and Sandisk falling 9.2%, as their results failed to meet elevated AI-driven expectations. LegalZoom plunged 23% after cutting its full-year revenue forecast, citing a slowdown in Google Search traffic. Honeywell Aerospace fell 13.1% after slashing its full-year outlook in its first report as an independent company.

Wall Street was set for a mixed open on Thursday, with Nasdaq futures down 0.7% after chipmakers Sandisk and Advanced Micro Devices and data storage company Western Digital reported earnings that failed to meet investors' lofty expectations, while S&P 500 e-minis nudged up 0.1%. European markets rallied, with the pan-European STOXX 600 touching an all-time high, up 0.4%, driven by media and telecoms stocks. Oil prices rose, with Brent crude up 1.1% at $80.34 a barrel, despite a proposed Iran-Oman deal aimed at ending the U.S.-Iran conflict. Markets also awaited U.S. jobless claims data and Friday's non-farm payrolls report.

Several stocks made significant premarket moves following earnings reports and guidance updates. Peloton Interactive sank nearly 14% after reporting a year-over-year decline in active paying subscribers of 8.8%, despite revenue topping expectations. Moderna rose 4% after the FDA approved its mRNA flu vaccine, mFlusiva, for adults 50 and older. Versant Media jumped 5% after raising its full-year outlook and beating top and bottom lines, now expecting 2026 revenue of $6.2 billion to $6.45 billion and adjusted EBITDA of $1.9 billion to $2.05 billion. Warby Parker shed 7% after second-quarter revenue of $235.5 million missed the LSEG consensus estimate of $238 million, though EBITDA topped expectations and full-year guidance was reaffirmed. IonQ rose 3.9% on better-than-expected second-quarter revenue and full-year revenue guidance of $280 million to $290 million, exceeding the FactSet consensus of $268.6 million. Sandisk slid 10% as first-quarter revenue guidance of $10.3 billion to $10.8 billion appeared to disappoint traders, with the LSEG consensus at $10.47 billion, despite fourth-quarter beats. Figma shed 14% after full-year adjusted operating income guidance of $125 million to $135 million came in soft versus the FactSet consensus of $133.2 million. DoorDash added 4% after quarterly revenue of $4.45 billion beat the LSEG consensus of $4.34 billion. Zillow slid more than 11% after expanding CFO Jeremy Hofmann's role to include COO, while also reporting adjusted EPS of 52 cents beating estimates of 45 cents and revenue of $772 million beating estimates of $758 million, a day after announcing about 500 layoffs. Western Digital slumped more than 15% as current-quarter projections underwhelmed, calling for adjusted earnings of $4 a share on revenue of $4.1 billion, versus consensus of $3.81 a share on $4.04 billion. Salesforce fell almost 5% after naming Miguel Milano as operating chief. Duolingo tumbled 7% after current-quarter revenue guidance of $302 million missed the FactSet consensus of $303.9 million. Bumble fell 5% after posting a second-quarter loss of 84 cents per share versus an expected profit of 25 cents, and issuing third-quarter adjusted EBITDA guidance of $56 million to $60 million below the $68.7 million consensus. AppLovin tanked nearly 20% after third-quarter adjusted EBITDA guidance of $1.71 billion to $1.74 billion missed the StreetAccount consensus of $1.75 billion.

US stock futures barely budged on Thursday morning as investors absorbed a wall of earnings reports, prospects of an imminent Strait of Hormuz deal, and fresh labor market data, with the Dow trading at a record high. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.2% after the blue-chip index extended its record-breaking win streak, while futures on the S&P 500 gained 0.1% and contracts for the Nasdaq-100 dipped 0.1%. Investors remain hyper-focused on AI capital requirements and monetization, with punishing earnings reactions for some AI highfliers such as AMD, Sandisk, and Western Digital. SpaceX stock remains near all-time lows as a lockup period expires on Thursday, potentially putting pressure on the stock should insiders sell their shares, while Nvidia stock rose over 3% on Wednesday after SpaceX said it would exclusively use Nvidia chips. Geopolitical uncertainty continues to hang over markets, helping to send gold prices to multiweek highs, and oil prices steadied near $80 per barrel after Iran said it had reached an agreement with Oman for a temporary shipping route through the Strait of Hormuz. In economic data, markets are set to get a Challenger, Gray & Christmas report on layoffs and initial jobless claims on Thursday, setting the stage for Friday's July employment report.

Chinese authorities have imposed new barriers on Western Digital's Sandisk unit, adding fresh constraints on its China operations in 2026. These measures come as China ramps up state-backed initiatives and competitive efforts that weigh on foreign chipmakers' supply chains and market access. The developments coincide with a wider chip sector selloff that has pushed the Nasdaq 100 into correction territory. Western Digital now faces added pressure in China, where new obstacles for its Sandisk unit intersect with the country's push to promote domestic chip capacity. The company's share price has fallen 21 percent over the past 30 days, in line with the broader chip sector pullback.

U.S. stock indexes were mixed on Tuesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbing to a 1.5-week high while the Nasdaq 100 fell to a 2.75-month low. The Dow rose 0.738% and the S&P 500 edged up 0.05%, but the Nasdaq 100 dropped 1.12% as a deepening rout in chipmakers and AI-infrastructure stocks weighed on the market. Better-than-expected earnings from Coca-Cola and Sherwin-Williams provided support, while an unexpected decline in the Conference Board's July consumer confidence index to 90.8 added to cautious sentiment. The iShares Semiconductor ETF fell more than 5% to a 2.5-month low, with Sandisk down over 14% and Western Digital down over 13%. In contrast, software stocks gained, with Workday up over 7% and Thomson Reuters up over 6%.

AI memory stocks have plunged 30% to 50% from their peaks as expanding supply erases the premium pricing that drove gains of more than 600% during the artificial-intelligence infrastructure buildout. Micron Technology has fallen 33% from its high, Sandisk is down 50%, Western Digital has dropped 42%, and Seagate has declined 34%, while newly public SK Hynix trades roughly 30% below its post-IPO high. The selloff has spread beyond memory, with Nvidia down about 17% and TSMC off roughly 20%, as investors broadly reassess AI infrastructure valuations. South Korea's KOSPI index has tumbled 29% in a month, entering bear-market territory, and China's ChangXin Memory Technologies just held an IPO that could fund further domestic expansion. Analysts warn that memory stocks rarely bottom after the first leg down and that current valuations still price in years of elevated profitability that rising supply may undercut.

Memory and storage stocks are plunging in Tuesday premarket trading, with Micron Technology down 6.7%, Seagate Technology down 7.2%, Western Digital down 7.6%, and SanDisk down 7.3% as of 7:15 a.m. ET. The selloff follows overnight losses in Asia where Samsung fell 13%, SK Hynix fell 15%, and Kioxia fell 18%, driven by three overlapping catalysts. Reports that China is developing deep ultraviolet lithography machines that could ship this year have revived fears of a global capacity flood threatening the memory pricing cycle. Additionally, NVIDIA's reported preparation of up to $750 billion in partnerships and financing tied to OpenAI and SK Hynix is stoking circular financing anxieties within the AI complex. A leveraged unwind in Korea's memory-dominated market is also pressuring memory and memory-adjacent stocks worldwide, with SanDisk already down 39% over the past month despite strong fundamentals such as Micron's Q4 revenue guide of $50.0 billion and Nomura's forecast of $2 trillion in DRAM sales by 2030.

U.S. chip stocks extended losses in premarket trading Tuesday, building on Monday's declines after a broad selloff swept through Asian semiconductor names overnight. Memory chip stocks Micron, SanDisk, and Western Digital fell about 4% each, while Intel shed 3.2%, Marvell Technology and Applied Materials lost about 2.8% each, AMD dipped more than 3%, and Super Micro Computer slipped 2.9%. The rout began Monday when Nvidia shares fell 5% in New York, stripping the AI chip giant of its title as the world's most valuable listed company after The Wall Street Journal reported the company is in talks to provide around $250 billion toward a massive data-center project tied to OpenAI. The weakness carried into Asian trading Tuesday, with South Korea's Kospi tumbling roughly 11% and triggering its eighth circuit breaker of the year, while Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 4% and memory-chip maker Kioxia sank 18%. Analysts attributed the pullback to worries over how AI infrastructure is being financed, China's advancing chip capabilities, and intensifying competition from Chinese semiconductor firms, highlighted by Chinese memory chipmaker CXMT surging 466% on its Shanghai debut on July 27 in Asia's largest IPO of 2026, raising $8.6 billion and pushing its market value to 3.3 trillion yuan, or about $487.73 billion, nearly half the valuation of U.S. rival Micron.

Memory and storage stocks fell sharply after ChangXin Memory Technologies surged 465% in its Shanghai debut, reaching a valuation above $500 billion. Micron Technology dropped 5%, Sandisk declined around 12%, and Western Digital also traded lower, while SK Hynix shares tumbled, signaling a broader reassessment of the memory trade. CXMT, now the world’s fourth-largest DRAM maker with a 7.7% market share in 2025, is seen as a rising competitor that could expand its global DRAM share from about 10% to 18% by 2028, according to Nomura. The sell-off reflected fears that China’s aggressive capacity growth may pressure conventional DRAM prices and that similar progress could emerge in NAND and storage markets, though CXMT does not yet compete in high-bandwidth memory. Hedge fund ownership in Micron, Sandisk, and Western Digital had risen before the listing, indicating elevated institutional positioning that left the rally vulnerable.

Stock indexes gave up early gains and are trading mixed, with the Nasdaq 100 falling to a 2.5-month low. The S&P 500 is up 0.11%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 0.54%, and the Nasdaq 100 is down 0.46%. Weakness in chipmakers is weighing on the broader market as investors rotate out of semiconductor and AI-infrastructure stocks and into beaten-down sectors such as software. The iShares Semiconductor ETF is down more than 3%, with Sandisk down more than 11% and Advanced Micro Devices and Western Digital down more than 6%. Energy producers are also sliding amid a more than 6% decline in crude oil prices after the US and Iran held off attacks for a third straight day, easing geopolitical risks. Software stocks are rallying, with Workday up more than 8% and Atlassian up more than 7%, while airline and cruise line operators are climbing on the drop in oil prices.