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Shares of Western Digital (NASDAQ:WDC) slipped more than 5% in extended trading on Thursday following the company’s report of its seventh consecutive quarterly revenue decline.
WDC stock was last trading down 5.3% at $57.12.
Western Digital (WDC) posted an adjusted loss per share of 69 cents on revenue of $3.03B for the second quarter of 2024. Analysts had expected a loss per share of $1.10 on revenue of $3.01B.
However, despite beating earnings estimates, the company experienced a 2% year-over-year decline in revenue. This dip was primarily driven by a 13% year-over-year fall in sales in the cloud business due to lower e-solid state drive bit shipments.
In the previous quarter, Western Digital (WDC) announced its intention to separate its hard disk drive (HDD) and flash memory businesses into two distinct companies by the second half of 2024. This decision was made after discussions to merge the flash memory unit with Japan’s Kioxia failed to materialize.
In the second quarter, WDC’s flash revenue increased marginally by 0.5% year-over-year to $1.67B, whereas HDD revenue declined by 5.7% year-over-year to $1.37B. Additionally, the company’s quarterly loss included $156M of underutilization-related charges in flash and HDD.
“Western Digital’s second quarter results demonstrate that the structural changes we have put in place over the last few years and the strategy we have been executing are producing significant outperformance across our flash and HDD businesses,” said CEO David Goeckeler in a statement.
Looking ahead to the third quarter, WDC anticipates an adjusted loss per share of 10 cents to adjusted earnings per share of 20 cents. The consensus estimate stands at a loss per share of 29 cents. The company is expecting a revenue range of $3.20B to $3.40B, as opposed to the consensus estimate of $3.18B.
Shares of Western Digital’s rival, Seagate (STX), also took a hit, falling 3.8% to $87.50 after hours, as the company reported its seventh straight quarter of revenue decline the day before.