Western Digital Shares Jump 37% on Chairman’s Optimism

Western Digital Corp.’s shares rose 37% Tuesday after the company’s chairman told some investors at a conference that the outlook for its products was improving.

Chief Executive Charles A. Haggerty told an audience of selected investors at the CS First Boston Technology Conference in Phoenix that the company’s inventories have been whittled down and it is increasing its market share with personal computer makers. Haggerty also said Western Digital will ship products using International Business Machines Corp. technology earlier than expected.

The shares of Irvine-based Western Digital, the third-largest independent computer disk-drive maker, rose $4.81 to $17.88. Volume totaled 6.96 million shares, more than five times the average daily volume over the last three months.

Shares of other disk-drive makers also moved up. No. 1 Seagate Technology Inc., which didn’t make a presentation at the conference, climbed $2.25 to $31.75, while Quantum Corp., which did give a presentation, was up $1.75 to $23.88.

Western Digital’s chief executive also said he is comfortable with analysts’ estimates for a loss of $1.01 a share in the fiscal second quarter ending in December.

Western Digital, along with other disk-drive makers, has struggled with excess inventory, falling prices and accelerating changes in technology.

The stock, which hit a high of $22.06 a share in April, sank as low as $7.13 on Oct. 15 before starting to rebound.