Western Digital Corp. (NASDAQ: WDC) reported its fiscal third-quarter financial results after the markets closed on Thursday. The results were underwhelming to say the least, and investors were exiting the stock all of Friday. Analysts took this chance to update their views on this stock. We have included highlights from the earnings report as well.

One thing to keep in mind when seeing these results is that the cost of 1 terabyte (TB) of storage is so low that one has to wonder how these companies make money these days with the great cloud migration.

The company said it had $1.21 in earnings per share (EPS) on $2.82 billion in revenue. That compared to consensus estimates that of $1.25 in EPS on revenue of $2.86 billion.

Also in this report, Western Digital indicated that it continues to expect to complete its planned acquisition of SanDisk in the June quarter.

The report said cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments totaled $6.03 billion, compared to $5.29 billion at the end of the previous fiscal year.

Analysts poured into the stock as it was seen falling about 13% on Friday:

• Baird has a Neutral rating and lowered its price target to $50 from $55.
• Barclays has an Equal Weight rating and lowered its price target to $57 from $61.
• Benchmark has a Buy rating with a $94 price target.
• Cowen lowered its price target by a dollar to $45.
• Deutsche Bank lowered its price target to $68 from $74.
• Needham lowered its price target from $90 to $69.
• RBC has an Outperform rating and lowered its price target to $56 from $60.
• Susquehanna has a Positive rating but lowered its target to $80 from $83.

Shares of Western Digital were trading at $40.87 on Friday’s close, with a consensus analyst price target of $66.24 and a 52-week trading range of $38.64 to $99.93.

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