Western Digital Corp. shares are trading down Tuesday, a day after the Irvine-based company announced it was moving its listing to the Nasdaq Global Select Market from the New York Stock Exchange.
Investors sent shares down 3.7% in midday trading to a market value of about $9 billion, erasing Monday’s 3.75% gain.
The company’s shares rose yesterday after it announced a $1.5 billion stock repurchase and said it would commence trading on the tech-heavy Nasdaq on June 1.
It will maintain its ticker symbol WDC after the shift to Nasdaq.
Chief Executive John Coyne said transferring the stock exchange listing heralded a new era for the disk drive maker following its $4.8 billion acquisition of Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Inc. in March.
The Hitachi buy positions Western Digital to battle for the top position among drive makers and promises entrée to the more lucrative corporate storage market.
Hard-disk drives store and allow access to data. Western Digital’s disk drives go into computers, external storage devices, corporate networks and consumer electronics such as DVR players.
The Nasdaq listing also is “cost-effective” and provides “excellent services and public exposure,” Coyne said.