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So, Western Digital Corp. (WDC) shares took a little dip on Thursday. The stock fell about 3.25% to $288.04. That's not a disaster, but it's worth noting because it came right after the stock shot up nearly 9% on Wednesday. It's like the market decided to hit the pause button after a sprint.
The broader market wasn't exactly roaring either. The Nasdaq was down 0.24%, and the S&P 500 slipped 0.12%. So, Western Digital wasn't alone in feeling some pressure.
Part of the volatility seems tied to what's happening in the world. President Donald Trump announced an extension of "Operation Epic Fury," warning of strikes on Iran for "two to three weeks" more. "We are going to hit them extremely hard," he said. When headlines like that hit, it tends to make investors a bit nervous, especially in tech, and it's contributed to a notable decoupling between oil prices and stock markets recently.
But let's zoom out from the daily noise. The bigger story for Western Digital and its peers is the artificial intelligence boom. CNBC's Jim Cramer has been talking about this, and he's pretty excited. He recently noted that memory companies like Micron Technology Inc. (MU) and Western Digital are sitting on a "gold mine." Why? Because AI needs to store and process insane amounts of data. All those large language models and AI applications aren't just thinking; they're eating up storage capacity. That's a fundamental, long-term tailwind for the business.
Okay, back to the stock price. Even with Thursday's pullback, the technical picture still looks pretty strong. At $288.24, the stock was trading about 3.8% above its 20-day simple moving average. More impressively, it's a whopping 29% above its 100-day average. That's a big gap.
The moving average structure is what traders call "constructive." The shorter-term 20-day average is above the 50-day average, and a "golden cross" that formed back in July has kept the longer-term trend bias positive. In plain English: the uptrend is still intact.
Let's add some perspective: this stock has gained about 598.5% over the past 12 months. Yes, you read that right. It's still below its 52-week high of $319.62, but it's worlds away from its low of $28.83.
For the traders watching the levels:
So, Thursday was a down day for Western Digital. Sometimes a stock needs to cool off after a big run. The geopolitical headlines added some uncertainty, but the core story—that AI is creating a massive need for storage—hasn't changed. The charts suggest the bulls are still largely in control, even if they took a brief coffee break.
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