Western Digital Corp. shares jumped to a new all-time high on Monday after Morgan Stanley lifted its price target to $650 from $488 and reiterated an overweight rating. The move pushed WDC stock to a third straight day of gains and gave investors a fresh benchmark to measure just how far the rally has run.
WDC stock climbed as high as $658.80 during the session and finished Monday at $653.53, up 16.10 percent. That means the shares closed above Morgan Stanley's new target, even after the bank raised its view by 33 percent from the earlier $488 level. The gap matters because the target still sits below the day's intraday peak, but only by a narrow margin.
The call was not just about a higher valuation. Morgan Stanley said its coverage reflected Western Digital's dual-tracked UltraSMR/HAMR roadmap and argued that investors continue to undervalue it. In the bank's view, HAMR is a source of reliability and strength rather than a technology gap versus peers, a framing that turns what might look like a risk into part of the investment case.
Morgan Stanley also lifted its earnings estimates for Western Digital to $22.40 next year and $43.47 for 2028, and said the stock could double next year if bull-case pricing assumptions play out. That is a bold claim for a company that has already reset the market's expectations in one session, and it helps explain why the share price moved so quickly once Wall Street shifted its tone.
For now, the market is treating the roadmap as the story, not just the numbers. Western Digital's run shows how quickly sentiment can reprice when a major bank says the company is still being misunderstood, but the next test is whether the stock can hold near record levels after a move this sharp. Monday answered the direction. It did not answer how long the market will stay there.
