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Western Digital
(NYSE: WDC)
USA
The world is getting smaller for Western Digital, and the $3.6 billion-a-year Lake Forest (Calif.) maker of hard drives likes it that way. As consumers rush to buy feature-packed cell phones, MP3 players, and other devices, the longtime maker of 3.5-in. drives for PCs has fast changed gears to produce 2.5-in. drives for notebooks and laptops and 1-in. drives for digital cameras and cell phones. The larger drives still generate the majority of Western Digital sales. But as the market for PCs slows, Western Digital this year shipped 4.5 million drives for digital video recorders, double the unit shipments of a year earlier. But hurdles still remain: It only recently started production of its smaller 1-in drives, which must compete against smaller-capacity flash memory units, whose makers have recently slashed prices. That could make for a difficult launch for Western Digital's line of new 1-in. drives, which only began production in late 2005.
Company Info |
|
| 2005 Rank | 30 |
| Sales* ($ Millions) | 4,196.2 |
| Sales Growth (over prev. year) |
22 % |
| Profits* ($ Millions) | 317.2 |
| Return on Equity | 30.9 % |
| Total Return on Sales (12-mo.) | 35.6 |
| Share Price As of 5/31/06 | 20.35 |
| CURRENT MARKET INFO | NYSE: WDC |
| No. of Employees | 23,161 |
| Industry | Computers & Peripherals |
| COMPANY WEB SITE > | |
*Trailing 12 months
Stock price data as of 5/31/06
DATA: Standard & Poor's Compustat
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Company Snapshot
Western Digital engages in the design, development, manufacture, and sale of hard-disk drives worldwide. Its hard-disk drive products include 3.5-inch and 2.5-inch form factor drives. The company's hard-disk drives are used in desktop personal computer, notebook computers, enterprise applications, and storage area networks, and consumer electronics products, such as personal digital video recorders and satellite and cable set-top boxes. In addition, the company's hard-disk drives are used in external hard-disk drive products that feature high speed buses. The company sells its products to original equipment manufacturers for inclusion in computer systems or subsystems, and to distributors, resellers, and retailers. Western Digital was founded in 1970 and is headquartered in Lake Forest, Calif.
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