FINWIRES · TerminalLIVE
FINWIRES

Western Digital Enters Equity-for-Equity Exchange Agreements

By

-- Western Digital (WDC) said Wednesday it has signed exchange agreements with institutional investors under which it will receive nearly 1.9 million shares of its own stock in exchange for 653,203 shares of Sandisk (SNDK).

The exchanges are expected to settle on Thursday, Western Digital said.

Western Digital said that upon settlement, it will continue to own about 1.04 million shares of Sandisk, which it intends to dispose of in one or more exchanges for Western Digital debt held by creditors and/or in exchange for outstanding shares of Western Digital common stock and/or through distributions to shareholders as dividends.

Western Digital shares were fractionally higher in early trading Wednesday, while Sandisk was down 0.5%.

Price: $467.20, Change: $+1.94, Percent Change: +0.42%

Related Articles

Research

Research Alert: CFRA Maintains Buy Rating On Shares Of Revvity

CFRA, an independent research provider, has providedwith the following research alert. Analysts at CFRA have summarized their opinion as follows:We raise our 12-month price target from $102 to $108, based on 18.3x our 2027 EPS view. This is below the company's five-year historical forward average P/E of 21.4x. Our 2026 EPS estimate is $5.30 (down from $5.41), and our 2027 EPS estimate is $5.89 (down from $6.00). We think RVTY's commentary on pharma and biotech end markets was more positive than in previous quarters, with management citing the strongest performance in this segment since early 2023. The positive growth from academic and government customers in the U.S. for the first time since Q2 2023 also signals a potential inflection. We anticipate a near-1% sales decline in 2026 given the recently announced China immunodiagnostics business divestiture. On an organic basis, we anticipate near-3.5% growth over the full year. The adjusted EPS midpoint of $5.275 implies 4.2% annual EPS growth, though we anticipate earnings growth will accelerate by over 11% in 2027.

Australia

Rapid7, Qualys Q1 Upside Driven by AI Push But Outlooks Limit Sentiment, Morgan Stanley Says

Rapid7 (RPD) and Qualys (QLYS) delivered slight Q1 beats while increasingly focusing on artificial intelligence-driven cybersecurity products, but overall sentiment is unlikely to improve given the companies' flat to slightly weaker outlooks, Morgan Stanley said in a note Wednesday.For Q2, Rapid7 expects revenue to continue declining and annual recurring revenue is expected to fall further to around $820 million. Qualys' outlook for 2026 is stable but lacks acceleration, with unchanged billings guidance implying continued low-to-mid single-digit growth, the investment bank said.Morgan Stanley said Rapid7 management leaned heavily into the AI and cybersecurity narrative, shifting value toward proactive exposure management, managed detection and response services, AI-driven security operations center automation, and large-scale remediation, but the company will need to show these improvements in its results before it gets credit for a turnaround.Qualys management also emphasized accelerating momentum in exposure and threat management, Agent Val, TruRisk Eliminate, autonomous exploit validation, and AI-native risk operations center workflows, arguing that advanced AI models will increase vulnerability volumes and shorten exploit windows, according to the note.Morgan Stanley lowered its price target on Rapid7 to $9 from $10, while keeping its equal-weight rating. The firm also cut Qualys' price target to $96 from $117, and maintained its underweight rating.Price: $6.71, Change: $+0.03, Percent Change: +0.45%

$QLYS$RPD
Mining & Metals

TSX up 360 Points With Miners, Financials Leading Gains

The Toronto Stock Exchange is up 360 points at midday with miners (+5.2%) and financials (+15%), the best performers.Energy and info tech, down 4.8% and 1.6%, respectively, are the worst performers.Energy stocks are down as oil prices sink on hopes that the U.S. and Iran may be nearing a deal to re-open the Strait of Hormuz, media reports say.In domestic news, the Ivey Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) data released Wednesday showed that Canadian economic activity grew in April at the fastest pace in seven months as employment and prices accelerated. The seasonally adjusted index rose to 57.7 last month from 49.7 in March, its highest level since September.In stocks, Vermilion Energy (VET.TO) slumped over 12% to a fresh 52-week low, after it reported a first-quarter earnings miss.

$^GSPTSE$.GSPTSE$VET.TO