DLB vs NLST vs WDC Stock Comparison

Dolby Laboratories, Netlist and Western Digital Prices as of Oct 26, 2026 Peers: Industry group
DLB Dolby Laboratories, Inc.
$63.13 +7.7% 1M -6.3% 1Y
Market cap
$5.95B
P/E
26.3x
Revenue (TTM)
$1.35B
Div. yield
0.02%
Semiconductor EDA Software Technology
2 wins
NLST Netlist Inc
$6.47 +15.9% 1M +895.4% 1Y
Market cap
$2.18B
P/E
2,680x
Revenue (TTM)
$332.69M
Div. yield
–
Server and Storage Hardware Technology
4 wins
WDC Western Digital Corp
$356.13 -22.0% 1M +175.2% 1Y
Market cap
$139.88B
P/E
14.0x
Revenue (TTM)
$14.48B
Div. yield
0.00%
Server and Storage Hardware Technology
5 wins

Head to Head

11 decided of 12

Western Digital leads on 5 of the 12 questions below (Western Digital 5, Netlist 4, Dolby Laboratories 2). Which ones matter depends on what you are buying for; a cheap multiple and slow growth often come together.

QuestionDLBNLSTWDCLeader
Larger companyMarket capitalisation $5.95B $2.18B $139.88B WDC
Cheaper on earningsLower P/E, profitable companies only 26.3x 2,680x 14.0x WDC
Cheaper on forward earningsLower price / next fiscal year consensus EPS 14.1x 7.0x 14.8x NLST
Faster revenue growthRevenue growth, trailing twelve months +0.6% +129.2% +43.0% NLST
More profitableNet margin, trailing twelve months 16.7% 0.2% 69.2% WDC
Better return on capitalReturn on invested capital — — 53.8% –
Less leveragedLower net debt / EBITDA — -40.8x -0.1x NLST
Higher dividend yieldTrailing dividend yield 0.02% 0.00% 0.00% DLB
Better 1-year returnPrice return, last 12 months -6.3% +895.4% +175.2% NLST
Better 5-year returnAnnualised price return, 5 years -6.4%/yr -2.5%/yr +53.4%/yr WDC
Less volatileAnnualised volatility, 1 year 30.3% 105.0% 81.2% DLB
Higher overall scoreMean of the five percentile scores vs peers 66/100 45/100 78/100 WDC

Percentile Scorecard

DLBNLSTWDC

Each axis is the mean percentile of its metrics against the company's industry group. 100 is the best in the group, 50 the middle.

Scores by Axis

AxisDLBNLSTWDC
Valuation 86 #14 of 95 8 #102 of 111 54 #52 of 111
Growth 27 #68 of 93 93 #9 of 108 99 #2 of 108
Profitability 71 #27 of 91 37 #66 of 104 98 #3 of 104
Financial Health 62 #39 of 101 53 #55 of 115 66 #40 of 115
Shareholder Returns 84 #13 of 75 33 #55 of 81 75 #21 of 81
Overall 66 45 78
  • DLB ranked among 104 companies in Semiconductors
  • NLST ranked among 121 companies in Computer Hardware
  • WDC ranked among 121 companies in Computer Hardware

Price Performance

Price return, split-adjusted, before dividends. Click a name to hide or show it.

Returns

PeriodDLBNLSTWDCSPY
1 month +7.7%+15.9%-22.0% -0.8%
3 months +23.1%+167.4%-28.5% +3.5%
6 months -0.8%+196.8%-11.1% +7.0%
Year to date -1.7%+627.0%+106.7% +12.2%
1 year -6.3%+895.4%+175.2% +13.0%
3 years -19.7%+499.1%+1,108.9% +86.3%
3 years, per year -7.1%+81.7%+129.6% +23.1%
5 years -28.0%-12.1%+749.3% +68.6%
5 years, per year -6.4%-2.5%+53.4% +11.0%
10 years +26.6%+462.6%+733.6% +258.0%
10 years, per year +2.4%+18.9%+23.6% +13.6%

Risk

MeasureDLBNLSTWDCSPY
Volatility, 1Y 30.3%105.0%81.2% 12.7%
Downside volatility, 1Y 31.6%95.3%82.1% 12.7%
Beta vs S&P 500, 1Y 0.542.003.15 1.00
Return / volatility, 1Y -0.218.532.16 1.02
Max drawdown, 5Y -49.6%-93.2%-55.5% -25.4%
From 52-week high -8.6%-6.2%-52.3% -1.8%
52-week high $69.09$6.90$746.23 $779.14
52-week low $48.50$0.54$124.92 $631.97

Valuation History

Weekly multiples on trailing twelve-month fundamentals. Negative or extreme readings (a loss year, a collapsed denominator) are left out so the chart stays readable.

MultipleDLBNLSTWDC
P/E now vs peer median 26.3xmedian 42.1x 2,604xmedian 32.0x 13.0xmedian 32.0x
P/S now vs peer median 4.4xmedian 7.1x 6.5xmedian 2.8x 9.2xmedian 2.8x
EV/EBITDA now vs peer median 15.9xmedian 27.5x 3,122xmedian 19.4x 21.8xmedian 19.4x
P/FCF now vs peer median 15.2xmedian 37.2x -139.1xmedian 29.0x 31.1xmedian 29.0x
P/B now vs peer median 2.3xmedian 4.2x 93.1xmedian 2.9x 14.3xmedian 2.9x
PEG now vs peer median 12.63median 2.23 99.37median 1.13 0.17median 1.13

Financial History

Reported figures by fiscal period, placed on the calendar year (or quarter) each period ended in, so companies with different fiscal years line up.

Trailing twelve monthsDLBNLSTWDC
Revenue $1.35B $332.69M $14.48B
Gross profit $1.19B $54.02M $7.62B
Operating income $239.10M $408.00K $5.71B
Net income $228.00M $789.00K $10.02B
Free cash flow $392.67M -$15.53M $4.29B
R&D $265.94M $3.92M $1.15B
EPS (diluted) $2.39 $0.00 $26.10
Cash & equivalents $669.39M $30.66M $1.31B
Total debt – $10.94M $12.58B
Shares (diluted) 94.52M 370.75M 384.00M
Enterprise value $3.34B $2.09B $129.71B

All Metrics

58 metrics · best in bold

Bold marks the best reading: the lowest positive value for multiples, leverage and payout, the highest for everything else. The bar under each value is its percentile against that company's own peers. Hover a value for its rank and the peer median.

Valuation

12 metrics
MetricDLBNLSTWDC
P/E 26.3x 2,604x 13.0x
P/FCF 15.2x -139.1x 31.1x
P/Operating cash flow 13.6x -139.2x 27.4x
P/S 4.4x 6.5x 9.2x
P/B 2.3x 93.1x 14.3x
P/Tangible book 2.7x 93.1x 14.3x
EV/EBITDA 15.9x 3,122x 21.8x
EV/EBIT 22.1x 5,227x 23.3x
EV/Revenue 3.9x 6.4x 9.2x
EV/FCF 13.4x -137.3x 31.0x
EV/Operating cash flow 12.1x -137.4x 27.3x
PEG (3Y EPS CAGR) 12.63 99.37 0.17

Growth

14 metrics
MetricDLBNLSTWDC
Revenue growth (1Y) 0.6% 129.2% 43.0%
Revenue CAGR (3Y) 1.7% 64.2% 57.4%
Gross profit growth (1Y) -0.5% 1,221% 85.2%
Gross profit CAGR (3Y) 1.5% 127.6% 126.7%
Operating income growth (1Y) -15.1% 101.1% 104.4%
Operating income CAGR (3Y) -1.0% 26.2% 85.5%
Net income growth (1Y) -14.2% 102.1% 288.7%
Net income CAGR (3Y) 1.3% 26.3% 83.2%
EPS growth (1Y) -12.3% 101.6% 286.8%
EPS CAGR (3Y) 2.1% 26.2% 75.8%
Operating cash flow growth (1Y) -6.0% 48.8% 108.7%
Operating cash flow CAGR (3Y) 9.5% 28.4% 88.3%
Free cash flow growth (1Y) -10.4% 48.8% 121.1%
Free cash flow CAGR (3Y) 9.3% 28.5% 66.0%

Profitability

14 metrics
MetricDLBNLSTWDC
Gross margin 87.6% 16.2% 52.6%
EBITDA margin 24.5% 0.2% 42.1%
Operating margin 17.7% 0.1% 39.4%
Pretax margin 20.4% 0.2% 73.2%
Net margin 16.7% 0.2% 69.2%
FCF margin 29.0% -4.7% 29.6%
Operating cash flow margin 32.3% -4.7% 33.6%
Return on equity 8.7% 4.7% 110.0%
Return on assets 7.1% 1.0% 71.3%
Return on invested capital – – 53.8%
Return on capital employed 8.6% 1.3% 57.3%
Asset turnover 0.4x 4.1x 1.0x
Cash conversion (OCF / net income) 1.9x -19.7x 0.5x
Stock comp / revenue 9.6% 1.0% 1.6%

Financial Health

11 metrics
MetricDLBNLSTWDC
Debt / assets – 3.8% 5.5%
Debt / equity – 0.1x 0.1x
Net debt / EBITDA – -40.8x -0.1x
Debt / FCF – -0.2x 0.2x
Liabilities / assets 17.9% 68.4% 34.3%
Equity / assets 82.1% 31.6% 65.7%
Interest coverage – – 48.8x
Current ratio 3.2x 1.4x 1.4x
Quick ratio 3.1x 0.7x 0.9x
Cash ratio 1.6x 0.6x 0.3x
Altman Z-score 8.51 24.05 19.75

Shareholder Returns

7 metrics
MetricDLBNLSTWDC
Dividend yield 2.3% – 0.2%
Net buyback yield 3.5% -1.2% 2.3%
Shareholder yield 5.7% -1.2% 2.4%
Payout ratio (earnings) 58.9% – 2.0%
Payout ratio (FCF) 34.2% – 4.6%
Dividend growth (1Y) 8.6% – 151.3%
Dividend CAGR (3Y) 9.6% – –

Analyst Estimates

Solid lines are reported fiscal-year results; dashed lines are the consensus for the years ahead. Hover a year for the analysts' high and low, and how each result compared with its estimate.

ConsensusDLBNLSTWDC
Forward P/E 14.1xFY2026 7.0xFY2026 14.8xFY2027
EPS, next fiscal year $4.49FY2026 $0.92FY2026 $24.04FY2027
EPS growth, next FY +5.9%FY2026 – +135.2%FY2027
EPS growth, the year after +4.7% -4.3% +70.9%
Revenue, next fiscal year $1.50BFY2026 $691.20MFY2026 $20.04BFY2027
Revenue growth, next FY +11.1%FY2026 +266.4%FY2026 +55.1%FY2027
Revenue growth, the year after -7.7% +26.3% +39.2%

Institutional Ownership

13F filings, quarter ended Jun 30, 2026
HoldersDLBNLSTWDC
Held by institutions 65.4% 0.0% 93.7%
Institutions holding 389 4 1,845
Change in shares held, QoQ +5.8% +146.0% -1.3%
Institutions buying 195 3 1,127
Institutions selling 148 0 596
Buyers to sellers 1.32 – 1.89

Return Correlation

Daily returns, last 12 months

1.00 means two stocks move in lockstep, 0 that they move independently. Pairs below about 0.5 diversify each other.

DLBNLSTWDC
DLB 1.00 0.02 0.00
NLST 0.02 1.00 0.14
WDC 0.00 0.14 1.00

Add a Peer

Largest companies in the same industry

Related Comparisons

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is bigger, DLB, NLST and WDC?

Western Digital (WDC) is the largest by market capitalisation: Dolby Laboratories (DLB) $5.95B, Netlist (NLST) $2.18B, Western Digital (WDC) $139.88B.

Which stock is cheaper, DLB, NLST and WDC?

Western Digital (WDC) trades on the lowest price-to-earnings ratio (Dolby Laboratories (DLB) 26.3x, Netlist (NLST) 2,680x, Western Digital (WDC) 14.0x). On next year's consensus earnings, Netlist (NLST) is cheapest (Dolby Laboratories (DLB) 14.1x, Netlist (NLST) 7.0x, Western Digital (WDC) 14.8x). A lower multiple can reflect slower expected growth, so read it next to the growth figures.

Which company is growing faster?

Netlist (NLST) grew revenue fastest over the trailing twelve months: Dolby Laboratories (DLB) +0.6%, Netlist (NLST) +129.2%, Western Digital (WDC) +43.0%.

Which company is more profitable?

Western Digital (WDC) has the highest net margin (Dolby Laboratories (DLB) 16.7%, Netlist (NLST) 0.2%, Western Digital (WDC) 69.2%).

Which stock has performed better?

Over the past year Netlist (NLST) returned the most: Dolby Laboratories (DLB) -6.3%, Netlist (NLST) +895.4%, Western Digital (WDC) +175.2%. Over five years, Western Digital (WDC) compounded fastest (Dolby Laboratories (DLB) -6.4%/yr, Netlist (NLST) -2.5%/yr, Western Digital (WDC) +53.4%/yr). Returns are price only, before dividends.

Which pays a higher dividend?

Dolby Laboratories (DLB) has the highest dividend yield: Dolby Laboratories (DLB) 0.02%, Netlist (NLST) 0.00%, Western Digital (WDC) 0.00%. Netlist (NLST) pays no regular dividend.

Which stock is riskier?

By one-year price volatility, Dolby Laboratories (DLB) has been the steadiest (Dolby Laboratories (DLB) 30.3%, Netlist (NLST) 105.0%, Western Digital (WDC) 81.2%). Volatility measures how widely the price swings, not the risk of the business.

Which is the better stock, DLB, NLST and WDC?

There is no single answer; it depends on what you are buying for. On the 12 head-to-head measures on this page, Western Digital (WDC) leads on 5. Business Quant does not give investment advice; use the comparison as a starting point for your own research.

Data from SEC filings, exchange prices and consensus estimates, via Business Quant. Percentile scores compare each company with its own peer group, so two companies' scores are each relative to different peers unless you rank against the whole market. Price returns exclude dividends. Nothing on this page is investment advice.