Shares of two Orange County technology companies defied Friday’s Wall Street downturn after reporting soild quarterly results and getting upgrades from analysts.
Lake Forest-based Western Digital Corp. saw its shares rise about 13% near the close of New York trading on a market value of $3 billion.
The gain came a day after Western Digital slumped after key rival Seagate Technology gave a weak outlook for the current quarter.
Late Thursday, Western Digital reported quarterly results that beat Wall Street expectations.
Needham & Co. analyst Richard Kugele raised his rating on Western Digital to “strong buy” from “buy.”
The company’s results were “solid in any market, (and) outstanding today,” Kugele said.
For the current quarter, Western Digital forecast sales of $2.025 billion to $2.15 billion, about even with the recently ended quarter. Wall Street saw that as a positive given current conditions.
Western Digital said it sees profts coming in at $177 million to $199 million, ahead of Wall Street expectations.
Costa Mesa-based Emulex Corp., a maker of electronics for data networks, were up about 7% near the close of New York trading on a market value of $720 million.
A JMP Securities analyst Samuel Wilson upgraded the company’s shares to “market perform” from “market underperform.”
Wilson’s upgrade was qualified: He called the company’s underlying financial performance “dismal” but said there wasn’t much downside in the stock, which is off by about 50% for the year.
Like Western Digital, Emulex beat expectations with results Thursday. For the current quarter, Emulex said it sees profits in line with expectations and sales slightly below.
