Essex Property Trust, Inc. vs Western Digital Corp — how do they compare? Essex Property Trust, Inc. trades at $282.11 (market cap $18.20B), while Western Digital Corp trades at $444.9 (market cap $151.09B). The key difference: Western Digital Corp is far larger — about 8.3× Essex Property Trust, Inc.'s market cap, and Essex Property Trust, Inc. pays the higher dividend (3.66%). Which is the better fit depends on your goals.
| ESS | WDC | |
|---|---|---|
Market Cap | $18.20B | $151.09B |
Sector | Real Estate | Technology |
52-Week High | $298.33 | $746.23 |
52-Week Low | $239.61 | $74.66 |
Enterprise Value | $24.80B | $150.56B |
Dividend Yield | 3.66% | 0.14% |
Signals from Pluang's Aura AI — not financial advice
ESS trades at $288.1, up 1.05% daily, with a neutral technical signal and support near $284. The stock shows strong profitability with a 21.48% net margin and recent Q2 2026 earnings miss on EPS but beat on FFO, leading to raised full-year guidance. Revenue growth is steady, reaching $1.89B in 2025, though net income declined to $670M from $742M in 2024.
Outlook is cautiously optimistic with a consensus price target of $305.86, implying ~6% upside. Risks include high debt levels (debt-to-asset ratio of 51.92% in 2024) and regional economic exposure. Analyst sentiment is mixed with 40% buy ratings, but institutional interest grew with Amundi increasing its stake in Q1 2026.
WDC trades at $434.3, down 3.81% over 24 hours, with a bearish technical signal as it hovers near the pivot point of $440. The company has shown strong earnings beats in recent quarters, with Q2 2026 EPS of $3.56 surpassing the $3.31 estimate, and maintains robust profitability margins, including a net income margin of 72.95% for 2025. Revenue for 2025 was $9.52B, with a significant turnaround to net income of $1.86B from prior losses, indicating operational recovery amid high cloud demand.
The outlook is mixed, with analyst consensus strongly bullish (72.13% buy ratings) and a price target of $665.15 suggesting substantial upside, but risks include high valuation multiples like a P/E of 17.89 and EV/EBITDA of 29.99, competitive pressures in HDD storage, and recent post-earnings sell-offs due to margin concerns. Investors should weigh the growth potential from AI-driven storage demand against cyclical and valuation headwinds.
Trailing returns across standard periods
Latest headlines on both assets
Essex Property Trust owns a portfolio of 253 apartment communities with over 62,000 units and is developing three additional properties with 571 units. The company focuses on owning large, high-quality properties on the West Coast in the urban and suburban submarkets of Southern California, Northern California, and Seattle.
Read more on ESS →Western Digital is a vertically integrated supplier of data storage solutions, spanning both hard disk drives and solid-state drives. In the HDD market it forms a practical duopoly with Seagate, and it is the largest global producer of NAND flash chips for SSDs in a joint venture with competitor Kioxia.
Read more on WDC →