Diamonds and Dogs

12/7/16

Storage in strong demand. Disk-drive and NAND flash chip maker Western Digital (WDC) is surging 7% to a new 52 week high following raised guidance for the quarter. In a news release at the company's analyst day meeting, Western raised its revenue view to $4.75 billion from a prior $4.7 billion, and also raised its gross profit outlook and earnings per share outlook for the quarter. Western Digital is firing on all cylinders heading into the holidays.

Healthcare and Illumina (ILMN) looking a little glum today. Yesterday it was Boeing taking a hit on a tweet from President elect Trump. Today its healthcare's turn as Trump told Time magazine he wants to bring down drug prices. The genetic sequencing and synthesis technology firm, Illumina (ILMN) is down 5% to a new 52 week low following a downgrade with a $100 price target. The analyst believes the valuation for Illumina is too high due to management's unconvincing argument about the outlook amid concerns regarding overcapacity and slower growth through 2018 with a lack of new products in the near term pipeline.