Barclays analyst Mark Moskowitz recommends investors build positions in Western Digital (WDC) and named it his new Top Pick in IT Hardware, removing Apple (AAPL). Western Digital issued a positive September quarter financial update citing a favorable mix in both HDD and SSD, and particularly good pricing conditions in NAND flash, the analyst wrote. Moskowitz believes the company's commentary is positive for investor sentiment and added it to the top spot given improving end markets, reduced industry manufacturing capacity, and potential for further operational synergies. He recommends investors build or add positions in Western Digital as gross margins should trend upward in the near- to mid-term. Moskowitz rates Western Digital an Overweight with a $61 price target on shares.

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Baird raised the firm's price target on Western Digital to $100 from $65 and keeps an Outperform rating on the shares. The firm said in addition to a return to sustainability in HDD fundamentals notably from a gross margin standpoint, emerging from over a decade of overcapacity in the HDD industry, Western Digital is poised to benefit from incremental SSD demand around training and inference, in addition to AI driving HDD capacity needs medium-term.

Erste Group downgraded Apple to Hold from Buy.

Benchmark upgraded Western Digital to Buy from Hold with an $85 price target.

Apple (AAPL) supplier TSMC (TSM) has unveiled its A16 chip manufacturing technology featuring nanosheet transistors with "backside power rails" meant for producing its ultra-advanced 1.6nm chips by 2026, Nikkei Asia's Cheng Ting-Fang reports. TSMC says the introduction of the technology can "greatly improve logic density and performance." Reference Link

Sees Q4 revenue $3.6B-$3.8B, consensus $3.69B.

Reports Q3 GAAP EPS 34c. Reports Q3 revenue $3.46B, consensus $3.36B. "As evidenced by our excellent third quarter results, Western Digital continues improving through-cycle profitability and dampening business cycles by leveraging our strategy of developing a diversified portfolio of industry-leading products across a broad range of end markets," said David Goeckeler, Western Digital CEO. "We are in the early innings of unlocking the full potential of this company, and as industry supply and demand dynamics continue to improve, we will remain disciplined around our capital spending and focused on driving innovation and efficiency across our businesses. We are confident in our strategy and the actions we have taken to-date, which successfully position us to capitalize on the promising growth prospects that lie ahead."

Pre-earnings options volume in Western Digital is 1.4x normal with calls leading puts 7:5. Implied volatility suggests the market is anticipating a move near 6.2%, or $4.32, after results are released. Median move over the past eight quarters is 2.1%.

Alphabet (GOOGL), the parent company of Google, is scheduled to report first quarter 2024 results after the market close on Thursday, April 25, with a conference call scheduled for 4:30 pm Eastern Time. What to watch... To see the rest of the story go to thefly.com. See Story Here

Get caught up quickly on the top news and calls moving stocks with these five Top Five lists.  1... To see the rest of the story go to thefly.com. See Story Here

Apple saw sales of its iPhones fall 19.1% in the first three months of the year, CNBC's Ryan Browne reports, citing data from Counterpoint Research. Meanwhile, Huawei saw a 69.7% surge in smartphone sales in the country during the same period, Counterpoint said. Reference Link