What metrics matter most when comparing Western Digital and Pure Storage?

For Western Digital, hard drive and NAND pricing trends, data center demand, and margin performance through the cycle are key. For Pure Storage, subscription services revenue growth, storage-as-a-service adoption, and hyperscale partnership deal flow matter more given its software-oriented model.

How is the AI score calculated?

The AI score is a composite signal incorporating fundamental quality, valuation, momentum, analyst sentiment, and risk factors. A higher score indicates a more favorable overall setup relative to the market at the time of the latest update.

How does AI infrastructure growth benefit Western Digital?

The rapid growth of AI workloads has driven substantial increases in data generation and storage needs, boosting demand for Western Digital's high-capacity hard disk drives and flash storage products in data centers. This demand has been a meaningful tailwind for pricing and volume in the storage hardware cycle.

What is storage-as-a-service and why does it matter for Pure Storage?

Storage-as-a-service allows customers to pay for storage capacity on a subscription basis rather than purchasing hardware outright, providing more predictable, recurring revenue for Pure Storage while offering customers flexibility and lower upfront costs. This model has been a key part of Pure Storage's strategy to improve revenue quality and customer stickiness.

How do Western Digital's and Pure Storage's competitive positions differ?

Western Digital competes primarily as a component and systems manufacturer against other large storage hardware makers, with results heavily influenced by industry-wide pricing cycles. Pure Storage competes more on software-defined storage architecture and customer experience against both traditional storage vendors and cloud-native alternatives, positioning it somewhat differently within the broader storage value chain.

Data as of: September 2, 2026

brimindinvest.com / compare / wdc-vs-pstgLIVE

WDC

Western Digital Corporation · Data Storage Hardware

$450.44

-17.33% this month

VERSUS

COMPARE

PSTG

Pure Storage, Inc. · Enterprise Data Storage Software & Hardware

N/A

N/A this month

Scoreboard verdict

Across AI score, momentum, valuation, upside, operating margin

WDC

0

PSTG

0

MIXED SETUP

Comparison scoreboard

MIXED SETUP

AI Score

WDC 71.7

PSTG N/A

1Y Return

WDC +460.67%

PSTG N/A

Fwd P/E

WDC 14.47

PSTG N/A

Target Up.

WDC +44.72%

PSTG N/A

Op. Margin

WDC 43.61%

PSTG N/A

Metrics last refreshed: 9/2/2026

Quick take

WDC vs PSTG Stock Comparison: AI Score, Valuation, Performance and Upside

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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.

Live analysis · updated 9/2/2026

WDC and PSTG are closely matched — they split the tracked metrics evenly.

Normalized 1Y performance

WDC

PSTG

Not enough data to chart yet.

Recent returns

WDC

PSTG

Analyst price targets & sentiment

WDC · 21 analysts

STRONG BUYHOLDSTRONG SELL

Buy (1.6/5.0)

Price target range

analyst low$40.00
analyst mean$664.92
current price$450.44

+44.7% upside to analyst mean

PSTG

Price target data unavailable

N/A

Who should consider this stock?

WDC may suit investors who:

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

PSTG may suit investors who:

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

Performance & AI score

Performance & AI score
Metric	WDC	PSTG
AI score	71.7	N/A
AI rank	#31	N/A
Latest close	$450.44	N/A
1M return	-17.33%	N/A
6M return	+79.74%	N/A
1Y return	+460.67%	N/A

$10,000 invested — hypothetical growth (dividends reinvested)

How much would $10,000 be worth today if invested at the start of each period, with all dividends reinvested?

$10,000 invested — hypothetical growth (dividends reinvested)
Period	WDC	PSTG
1Y ago	$54.99K (+449.9%) started 2025-09-02	N/A
5Y ago	$96.68K (+866.8%) started 2021-09-02	N/A
10Y ago	$135.69K (+1256.9%) started 2016-09-02	N/A

Hypothetical — past performance does not guarantee future results.

Valuation & upside potential

Valuation & upside potential
Metric	WDC	PSTG
Market cap	$165.65B	N/A
Trailing P/E	17.07	N/A
Forward P/E	14.47	N/A
Price/Sales	1.24	6.12
EV/Revenue	12.79	N/A
Analyst target	$664.92	N/A
Target upside	+44.72%	N/A

Growth, profitability & risk

Growth, profitability & risk
Metric	WDC	PSTG
Revenue growth	43.80%	N/A
Earnings growth	984.10%	N/A
EPS growth	+984.10%	N/A
FCF margin	+17.56%	N/A
Operating margin	43.61%	N/A
Profit margin	72.95%	N/A
ROIC proxy	130.85%	N/A
Return on equity	130.85%	N/A
Dividend yield	0.13%	N/A
Beta	2.22	1.45
Debt/equity	13.44	N/A
Current ratio	1.33	N/A
Quick ratio	0.85	N/A

Drawdown & downside risk

Lower drawdown and smaller single-period drops generally indicate a smoother ride, though they do not guarantee lower future risk.

1Y risk snapshot

WDC max drawdown41.80%

PSTG max drawdownN/A

WDC max wkly drop21.41%

PSTG max wkly dropN/A

5Y risk snapshot

WDC max drawdown55.32%

PSTG max drawdownN/A

WDC max wkly drop24.82%

PSTG max wkly dropN/A

10Y risk snapshot

WDC max drawdown72.21%

PSTG max drawdownN/A

WDC max wkly drop35.33%

PSTG max wkly dropN/A

Performance metrics by period

Performance metrics by period
Period	Metric	WDC	PSTG
1Y	Growth	+449.92%	N/A
	CAGR	+452.60%	N/A
	Sharpe ratio	2.49	N/A
	Max drawdown	41.80%	N/A
	Max daily drop	13.17%	N/A
	Max wkly drop	21.41%	N/A
5Y	Growth	+866.79%	N/A
	CAGR	+57.44%	N/A
	Sharpe ratio	1.04	N/A
	Max drawdown	55.32%	N/A
	Max daily drop	18.26%	N/A
	Max wkly drop	24.82%	N/A
10Y	Growth	+1212.02%	N/A
	CAGR	+29.36%	N/A
	Sharpe ratio	0.68	N/A
	Max drawdown	72.21%	N/A
	Max daily drop	20.44%	N/A
	Max wkly drop	35.33%	N/A

Business comparison

Business comparison
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.

WDC strengths

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

PSTG strengths

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

Risks to watch — WDC

Storage hardware pricing is historically cyclical and can swing sharply
Competition from alternative storage technologies and other manufacturers
Capital intensity of manufacturing capacity investments

Risks to watch — PSTG

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

Frequently asked questions

Western Digital offers leveraged exposure to cyclical storage hardware demand tied to AI-driven data growth, while Pure Storage offers a more subscription-oriented, recurring revenue model with software-like characteristics. Investors wanting cyclical hardware exposure may prefer Western Digital; those wanting more predictable recurring revenue may prefer Pure Storage.

AI Prediction SignalNext 5 trading days

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WDC

+2.8%BUY

PSTG

+1.1%HOLD

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