3rd-Quarter Earnings Will Be Lower Than Expected, Western Digital Says

Western Digital Corp., the computer hardware maker, reported Wednesday that earnings for its current quarter would be “significantly below” analysts’ expectations, sending its stock plunging by nearly 20%.

The Irvine-based company blamed the lower profit on slumping sales of 3.5-inch hard disk drives.

“Severe competitive pricing pressures . . . commenced three weeks ago and have intensified since then,” company President Charles A. Haggerty said in a prepared statement. “This abnormal deep discounting has had a ripple effect.”

The company said that for the third quarter ending March 27, earnings will be far lower than the 20-cent to 26-cent-a-share expectations by Wall Street. The company did not specify what per-share earnings were expected. But following the statement, some analysts revised their expectation to the 6-cent to 10-cent range.

Company spokesman Robert J. Blair said the announcement sent the company’s stock plummeting 18% on the New York Stock Exchange to close at $6.625 a share.