Western Digital (WDC) Stock Falls, SanDisk Acquisition Complete
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Western Digital (WDC) - Get Report stock is declining 2.40% to $35.86 in afternoon trading on Thursday after the Irvine, CA-based data storage maker completed the acquisition of SanDisk (SNDK).
Western Digital agreed to pay $67.50 per share and 0.2387 shares of common stock to SanDisk shareholders as part of the transaction.
"[W]e will begin the work to fully realize the value of this combination through executing on our synergies, generating significant cash flow, as well as rapidly deleveraging our balance sheet, and creating significant long-term value for our shareholders," Western Digital CEO Steve Milligan said in a statement.
Shares of Western Digital have plunged about 40% so far this year as the data storage industry is pressured by weak hard disk drive sales.
Growth from solid-slate drives and flash memory, which SanDisk manufacturers, is expected to offset HDD sales, allowing Western Digital to be well positioned in the near term, Deutsche Bank analysts said in a recently released note.
Separately, Western Digital has a "hold" rating and a letter grade of C at TheStreet Ratings because of the company's largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures and reasonable valuation levels, which is offset by a generally disappointing stock performance, feeble earnings per share growth and deteriorating net income.
You can view the full analysis from the report here: WDC
TheStreet Ratings objectively rated this stock according to its "risk-adjusted" total return prospect over a 12-month investment horizon. Not based on the news in any given day, the rating may differ from Jim Cramer's view or that of this article's author.
