Forensic Analysis · Computer Hardware · as of Nov 9, 2026
Western Digital Corp (WDC)
A forensic read on Western Digital Corp built from its complete SEC filings — financial-health screens, earnings quality, red flags and a price-aware rating. Reproducible math, not opinion.
C · Mixed — selective
Forensic grade
Safe
Financial health
7.0
Distress distance
Watch
Earnings quality
3
Forensic signals
133.0%
ROE
35.7%
Revenue growth
This free snapshot doesn't read filing or proxy text, so the auditor-quality and governance checks that can lower a grade were not evaluated (auditor quality, say on pay, board independence, going concern). Those checks only ever lower a grade, so the full analysis can land below the grade above but never above it — treat it as the most favourable reading, not the settled one.
Western Digital Corp earns a C (Mixed — selective) forensic quality grade, and its balance-sheet distress test reads 7.0, placing it in the Safe zone. 3 forensic signals were flagged in its latest SEC filings, led by cash conversion.
What the filings flag
0.51×
FY2024–FY2026
Cash conversion.Over FY2024–FY2026, cumulative operating cash flow was 0.51× cumulative net income. Reported profit is not turning into cash. The shortfall is profit tied up in working capital rather than collected — the accrual and receivables lines below show where.Cash conversion: operating cash flow divided by net income, the share of profit that arrived as cash.
+8.4%/yr
FY2024–FY2026
Share-count dilution.Diluted share count changed +17% over the last 2 years to FY2026 (+8.4%/yr). The count is growing — 326.0M shares in FY2024, 383.0M in FY2026: more stock was issued than repurchased over this window, so aggregate results grew faster than their per-share equivalents. That's ~8.4% shaved off per-share growth every year — total profit has to grow that much just to keep earnings-per-share flat, and a stake held since FY2024 has been diluted ~15%.
1.6% of rev
FY2026
Stock-based comp load.Stock-based compensation ran 1.6% of revenue and 6% of free cash flow in FY2026 — about $0.53 per diluted share. No cash left the business to pay it, which is why operating cash flow adds it back. Net of repurchases the diluted count still rose about 8.4% a year across FY2024–FY2026, and the rate is falling. Stock compensation is one source of that issuance; acquisition consideration, equity raises, convertibles and other employee plans also net into the count, and these figures do not separate them.
Key fundamentals
Latest Revenue$12.92B
Revenue Growth YoY+35.7%
Revenue CAGR (2yr)+43.0%
Net Margin72.9%
Free Cash Flow$3.51B
Return on Equity133.0%
Debt / Equity0.12x
The forensic grade and screens above are free — no account needed. Want the AI investment read on top — the 0–100 rating, thesis, bull-vs-bear, red flags and the 12-month scenario, written from Western Digital Corp's actual 10-K/10-Q/8-K filings?