Western Digital Stock Tumbles After Earnings Announcement

Western Digital Corp.’s stock tumbled more than 15% Monday after executives said that the company’s fiscal first-quarter earnings will fall short of Wall Street’s expectations.

The disk-drive manufacturer said lower market prices squeezed the company’s profit margin for the quarter that ended Saturday.

The announcement, released after the New York Stock Exchange closed, caused Western Digital’s stock price to drop $7.50 a share on other exchanges still open. The stock closed at $41 a share for these after-hours trades.

Analysts had placed Western Digital’s earnings for the quarter at 77 to 87 cents a share. The company said Monday that it expects earnings to reach 63 to 66 cents a share.

With greater competition continuing to keep prices down, the company said its second-quarter results could likely fall short as well. Executives said in a conference call with analysts that second-quarter earnings would be 80 cents to 90 cents a share, well below Wall Street’s consensus of $1.04 a share.

“We’re obviously disappointed,” Robert Blair, a Western Digital spokesman, said. “We’re still seeing solid growth and profitability, but it’s just coming in at lower levels than we had previously planned.”

For the same period last year, Western Digital earned 35 cents a share on $883 million in revenue, based on numbers that reflect the company’s 2-for-1 stock split last spring.

Dow Jones contributed to this report.