Western Digital (WDC) Strengthens Portfolio With New SSDs
Western Digital WDC recently unveiled its next-generation WD brand My Passport SSD (solid state drive). The latest My Passport version offers double the speed of its predecessor, enabling users to manage and ensure faster data transfer.
The latest My Passport, a palm-sized SSD, boasts of NVMe technology features write speeds of up to 1000MB/s and read speeds of up to 1050MB/s. Notably, the original My Passport SSD Grand View Research report, SSD market is anticipated to witness a CAGR of 15% during 2020-2026. Markedly, coronavirus crisis has triggered work-from-home wave that has led to increasing adoption of advanced data storage solutions.
Exponential growth in digital data and increasing penetration of high-end cloud platforms including public and private clouds, is bolstering uptake of SSDs.
Moreover, growing clout of SSDs in connected car applications is noteworthy. Connected car applications require better storage, high-quality graphics and communications, which is fulfilled by the SSDs.
Further, SSDs are increasingly being leveraged by data centers. SSDs are utilized in servers owing to the reduction in latency, which in turn facilitates faster response to real-time applications. E-commerce and financial enterprises need faster response time and thus data centers serving these clients are opting for SSDs.
We believe that new SSD offerings will boost Western Digital’s growth prospects and aid it in capturing a larger share of this market.
Risks Remain
In the near term, supply chain disruptions and lockdowns stemming from the coronavirus outbreak are likely to affect end-market demand for Western Digital, especially at brick and mortar stores. Moreover, management expects higher COVID-19-related logistics costs to be a headwind on the gross margin.
Further, increasing expenses on product enhancements to counter stiff competition from storage players such as Seagate Technology STX and Micron Technology MU, is likely to weigh on the bottom line, at least in the near term.
Currently, Western Digital carries a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
More Stock News: This Is Bigger than the iPhone!
It could become the mother of all technological revolutions. Apple sold a mere 1 billion iPhones in 10 years but a new breakthrough is expected to generate more than 27 billion devices in just 3 years, creating a $1.7 trillion market.
Zacks has just released a Special Report that spotlights this fast-emerging phenomenon and 6 tickers for taking advantage of it. If you don't buy now, you may kick yourself in 2021.
Click here for the 6 trades >>
Click to get this free report Seagate Technology PLC (STX) : Free Stock Analysis Report Micron Technology, Inc. (MU) : Free Stock Analysis Report Apple Inc. (AAPL) : Free Stock Analysis Report Western Digital Corporation (WDC) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research
