Spotlight: Western Digital Posts Strong Profit

Riding high on demand for its data-storage products, Irvine-based Western Digital Corp. reported gains in quarterly profit Wednesday and saw its stock close at a record $41 a share, up 69 cents. The company reported a fiscal 1997 fourth-quarter profit of $87.9 million, or 95 cents a share, up from $32.7 million, or 36 cents a share, a year earlier. The shares moved on the strength of the company’s financial news and analysts’ predictions that its fiscal 1998 will be an equally good year.