Hewlett Packard Enterprise vs Western Digital
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The short version
- Hewlett Packard Enterprise is the larger business, with $34.3B of revenue in fiscal 2025 against $12.9B for Western Digital, about 2.7 times as much.
- Western Digital grew revenue faster (35.7%, against 13.8%).
- Western Digital kept more of each dollar of sales as operating profit (34.5% operating margin, against −1.3%).
- Western Digital turned more of its sales into free cash flow (27.2% FCF margin, against 1.8%).
- Western Digital earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (52.2%, against −0.9%).
- Investors pay more for each dollar of Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s earnings: a P/E of 29.4x against 13.3x for Western Digital.
| Latest fiscal year | HPE · FY25 | WDC · FY26 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $82.1B | $132.0B |
| Revenue | $34.3B | $12.9B |
| Free cash flow | $627M | $3.5B |
| Net income | $57.0M | $9.4B |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | 13.8% | 35.7% |
| 5-year growth | 4.9% | −5.3% |
| Share count change | −1.0% | 6.7% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | — | 48.9% |
| Operating margin | −1.3% | 34.5% |
| Net margin | 0.2% | 73.0% |
| FCF margin | 1.8% | 27.2% |
| Return on capital | −0.9% | 52.2% |
| Return on equity | 0.2% | 133.0% |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | $20.6B | −$527M |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 9.0x | −0.1x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $886M | $2.8B |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | 29.4x | 13.3x |
| Piotroski F-score | 4 | 7 |
Revenue
FY17
HPE $28.9B
WDC $19.1B
FY18
HPE $30.9B
WDC $20.6B
FY19
HPE $29.1B
WDC $16.6B
FY20
HPE $27.0B
WDC $16.7B
FY21
HPE $27.8B
WDC $16.9B
FY22
HPE $28.5B
WDC $18.8B
FY23
HPE $29.1B
WDC $6.3B
FY24
HPE $30.1B
WDC $6.3B
FY25
HPE $34.3B
WDC $9.5B
FY26
HPE —
WDC $12.9B
HPE
WDC
Operating margin
FY17
HPE 2.0%
WDC 10.2%
FY18
HPE 5.6%
WDC 17.5%
FY19
HPE 4.4%
WDC 0.5%
FY20
HPE −1.2%
WDC 2.0%
FY21
HPE 4.1%
WDC 7.2%
FY22
HPE 2.7%
WDC 12.7%
FY23
HPE 7.2%
WDC −8.8%
FY24
HPE 7.3%
WDC −6.4%
FY25
HPE −1.3%
WDC 24.5%
FY26
HPE —
WDC 34.5%
HPE
WDC
Free cash flow
FY17
HPE −$1.8B
WDC $2.9B
FY18
HPE $8.0M
WDC $3.4B
FY19
HPE $1.1B
WDC $671M
FY20
HPE −$143M
WDC $177M
FY21
HPE $3.4B
WDC $752M
FY22
HPE $1.5B
WDC $758M
FY23
HPE $1.6B
WDC −$1.2B
FY24
HPE $2.0B
WDC −$781M
FY25
HPE $627M
WDC $1.3B
FY26
HPE —
WDC $3.5B
HPE
WDC
Return on capital
FY17
HPE 1.9%
WDC —
FY18
HPE 6.3%
WDC 10.1%
FY19
HPE 3.0%
WDC 0.4%
FY20
HPE −0.9%
WDC 1.6%
FY21
HPE 3.5%
WDC 6.7%
FY22
HPE 2.4%
WDC 10.3%
FY23
HPE 5.8%
WDC −2.6%
FY24
HPE 5.8%
WDC −2.0%
FY25
HPE −0.9%
WDC 19.0%
FY26
HPE —
WDC 52.2%
HPE
WDC
Each company's latest fiscal year; fiscal years end in different months. The best value in each row is highlighted where higher (or lower) is clearly better. Not investment advice.