Shares of Lake Forest disk drive maker Western Digital Corp. soared Wednesday after the company upped its earnings expectations for the current quarter.
The stock rose nearly 8% on a recent market value of about $7 billion.
Excluding one-time charges, Western Digital expects profits of about $225 million to $233 million on sales of $2.03 billion to $2.08 billion for the three months ending December 30, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
That’s far above its previous outlook of $159 million to $168 million in profits on sales of $1.9 billion.
The outlook beats analysts’ expectation for profits of about $169 million on sales of $2 billion.
It’s the second consecutive quarter that Western Digital has upped its guidance.
The company has seen a boost in sales because of strong demand for consumer products that use hard disc drives, steady pricing and low inventories, it said in the filing.
Better-than-expected results in the December quarter may spill over into next year, the company said.
