10 Hottest Large-Cap Stocks of 2025

5. Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC)

Market Capitalization as of December 29: $61.47 billion

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 84

Year-to-Date Performance as of December 29: 298.70%

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) is one of the hottest large-cap stocks of 2025. On December 16, Cantor Fitzgerald analyst CJ Muse raised the firm’s price target on Western Digital to $250 from $200, while keeping an Overweight rating on the shares. The semiconductor sector is set to remain a market leader after a stellar 2025, given that the AI era is just beginning. While the firm acknowledged some mixed economic signals, Cantor Fitzgerald advised investors to maintain a long position on the SOX index to capture the upcoming wave of AI infrastructure investment.

Earlier on December 5, China Renaissance initiated coverage of Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) with a Buy rating and $193 price target.

Furthermore, on December 2, Citi analyst Asiya Merchant also raised the firm’s price target on Western Digital to $200 from $180 and kept a Buy rating on the shares. The firm raised its target based on a robust memory market characterized by a favorable supply-demand balance, constrained production levels, and consistent pricing strength. Demand visibility has now been extended through 2027, a shift that Citi attributes to the rapid growth of unstructured data created by AI.

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) is making rapid technological strides to meet the massive storage needs of AI data lakes. The company delivered 204 exabytes of storage in FQ1 2026, which was up 23% year-over-year, and pulled forward its roadmap for Heat-Assisted Magnetic Recording/HAMR. Qualification for HAMR-based drives is now expected to begin with a hyperscale customer in the first half of calendar year 2026, expanding to three customers by year-end.

Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) develops, manufactures, and sells data storage devices and solutions based on hard disk drive/HDD tech in the US, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.