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4. Western Digital Corp (NASDAQ:WDC)

Renaissance Technologies Equity Stake: $310.02 Million

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 83

Western Digital Corp (NASDAQ:WDC) is one of Renaissance Technologies’ top semiconductor stock picks. Western Digital shares have gained around 180% year-to-date and soared more than 900% over the past year.

On May 26, Evercore ISI boosted its price target on Western Digital Corp (NASDAQ:WDC) shares to $575 from $410 while keeping an Outperform rating on the stock. The firm cited the company’s important role in the expanding artificial intelligence infrastructure market.

According to Evercore, the hard disk drive (HDD) industry remains an important but often overlooked part of the AI infrastructure buildout. The firm believes that rising demand for data storage due to expanding AI workloads can support strong long-term growth of the HDD market.

Evercore said the HDD industry could sustain more than 20% compound annual sales growth and more than 30% compound annual EPS growth over the medium term.

According to the firm, Western Digital’s revenue growth could outpace exabyte growth, while earnings growth could exceed revenue growth over the medium term. The firm expects this performance to be supported by capital allocation and margin expansion efforts.

Evercore’s comments on WDC stock came after it hosted investor meetings with Western Digital’s investor relations team. The firm said its price target hike reflects a more positive view of the company’s growth outlook.

California-based Western Digital Corp (NASDAQ:WDC) is a global data storage company.