WDC vs PSTG Stock Comparison: AI Score, Valuation, Performance and Upside
Western Digital is generally evaluated as a scaled hardware manufacturer benefiting from cyclical storage demand tied to data center and AI-driven data growth, while Pure Storage is assessed as a software-oriented, subscription-focused storage platform emphasizing recurring revenue and hyperscale partnerships. The comparison contrasts a cyclical hardware leader against a more software-centric, subscription-driven storage innovator.
Use this comparison to weigh Western Digital's cyclical hardware scale and AI-driven storage demand against Pure Storage's subscription-based, software-oriented growth model.
WDC and PSTG are closely matched — they split the tracked metrics evenly.
Human Wall Street analysts' price targets, typically implying a ~12-month view — a separate signal from this site's own AI Prediction Signal further down the page, which is a 5-/30-day machine-learning forecast based on price history alone.
- Want exposure to rising data center storage demand tied to AI infrastructure growth
- Believe hard disk and flash pricing cycles are favorably positioned currently
- Are comfortable with storage hardware's historical cyclicality
- Value a leading position in high-capacity enterprise storage
- Prefer a subscription-oriented, recurring revenue storage business model
- Believe all-flash architecture will keep displacing legacy storage systems
- Want exposure to emerging hyperscale and AI storage partnerships
- Value improving revenue predictability over pure hardware cyclicality
| Metric | WDC | PSTG |
|---|---|---|
| AI scorei | 72.7 | N/A |
| AI ranki | #25 | N/A |
| Latest closei | $343.67 | N/A |
How much would $10,000 be worth today if invested at the start of each period, with all dividends reinvested?
| Period | WDC | PSTG |
|---|---|---|
| 1Y ago | $27.34K (+173.4%) started 2025-10-23 | N/A |
| 5Y ago | $80.01K (+700.1%) started 2021-10-25 | N/A |
| 10Y ago | $89.29K (+792.9%) started 2016-10-24 | N/A |
Hypothetical — past performance does not guarantee future results.
| Metric | WDC | PSTG |
|---|---|---|
| Market capi | $128.64B | N/A |
| Trailing P/Ei | 12.09 | N/A |
| Forward P/Ei | 8.69 | N/A |
| Price/Salesi | 1.24 | 6.12 |
| EV/Revenuei | 8.86 | N/A |
| Analyst targeti | $610.04 | N/A |
| Target upsidei | +77.51% | N/A |
| Metric | WDC | PSTG |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue growthi | 55.50% | N/A |
| Earnings growthi | 50.90% | N/A |
| EPS growthi | +50.90% | N/A |
| FCF margini | +18.85% | N/A |
| Operating margini | 47.68% | N/A |
| Profit margini | 69.20% | N/A |
| ROIC proxyi | 129.60% | N/A |
| Return on equityi | 129.60% | N/A |
| Dividend yieldi | 0.20% | N/A |
| Payout ratioi | 1.86% | N/A |
| Dividend growth streaki | No increase yet | N/A |
| Betai | 2.17 | 1.45 |
| Debt/equityi | 9.86 | N/A |
| Current ratioi | 1.43 | N/A |
| Quick ratioi | 0.87 | N/A |
Lower drawdown and smaller single-period drops generally indicate a smoother ride, though they do not guarantee lower future risk.
| Period | Metric | WDC | PSTG |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1Y | Growthi | +173.36% | N/A |
| CAGRi | +173.75% | N/A | |
| Volatilityi | 81.02% | N/A | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 1.60 | N/A | |
| Sortino ratioi | 2.46 | N/A | |
| Max drawdowni | 55.51% | N/A | |
| Current drawdowni | 53.95% | N/A | |
| Avg drawdowni | 15.57% | N/A | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 22.69% | N/A | |
| Max daily dropi | 13.17% | N/A | |
| Max wkly dropi | 21.41% | N/A | |
| 5Y | Growthi | +700.06% | N/A |
| CAGRi | +51.64% | N/A | |
| Volatilityi | 53.58% | N/A | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.96 | N/A | |
| Sortino ratioi | 1.46 | N/A | |
| Max drawdowni | 55.51% | N/A | |
| Current drawdowni | 53.95% | N/A | |
| Avg drawdowni | 22.23% | N/A | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 27.63% | N/A | |
| Max daily dropi | 18.26% | N/A | |
| Max wkly dropi | 24.82% | N/A | |
| 10Y | Growthi | +771.05% | N/A |
| CAGRi | +24.17% | N/A | |
| Volatilityi | 50.65% | N/A | |
| Sharpe ratioi | 0.59 | N/A | |
| Sortino ratioi | 0.86 | N/A | |
| Max drawdowni | 72.21% | N/A | |
| Current drawdowni | 53.95% | N/A | |
| Avg drawdowni | 37.54% | N/A | |
| Ulcer Indexi | 43.20% | N/A | |
| Max daily dropi | 20.44% | N/A | |
| Max wkly dropi | 35.33% | N/A |
| Category | WDC | PSTG |
|---|---|---|
| Company | Western Digital Corporation | Pure Storage, Inc. |
| Sector | Technology | Enterprise Data Storage Software & Hardware |
| Industry | Computer Hardware | N/A |
| Core business | Western Digital designs and manufactures hard disk drives and flash-based storage products for data centers, enterprises, and consumer devices. | Pure Storage provides all-flash data storage platforms and storage-as-a-service subscription offerings for enterprise and cloud data center customers. |
| Investor focus | Investors watch data center and cloud storage demand, hard drive and NAND pricing trends, and margin performance through the storage industry's cyclical swings. | Investors track subscription services revenue growth, adoption of its Evergreen and storage-as-a-service models, and expansion into hyperscale and AI-related storage deals. |
- Leading position in high-capacity hard disk drives for cloud and enterprise storage
- Benefiting from rising data center storage demand tied to AI data growth
- Improved capital structure and focus following prior business separation
- All-flash architecture offering performance and efficiency advantages over legacy storage
- Growing subscription and storage-as-a-service revenue mix improving recurring revenue quality
- Emerging hyperscale and AI infrastructure storage partnerships
- Storage hardware pricing is historically cyclical and can swing sharply
- Competition from alternative storage technologies and other manufacturers
- Capital intensity of manufacturing capacity investments
- Competition from larger, more diversified storage and cloud infrastructure providers
- Enterprise IT spending cycles affecting new deal timing
- Profitability still maturing relative to revenue scale
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