What Happened?
Shares of data storage manufacturer Seagate (NASDAQ: STX) jumped 3.8% in the afternoon session after it received multiple price target upgrades from Wall Street analysts who anticipate a surge in demand driven by artificial intelligence (AI).
Morgan Stanley led the bullish sentiment, boosting its price target on Seagate to $265 from $168, citing a "stronger for longer" demand cycle for hard disk drives (HDDs) due to cloud infrastructure spending and growing data retention needs for AI.
Rosenblatt Securities also raised its target to $250 from $200, maintaining a Buy rating and noting that growing AI data center projects will fuel HDD demand. Analysts at Rosenblatt expect Seagate's new HAMR-based drives to lead to higher average selling prices and expanded margins.
After the initial pop the shares cooled down to $227.43, up 4.6% from previous close.
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What Is The Market Telling Us
Seagate Technology’s shares are somewhat volatile and have had 13 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.
The previous big move we wrote about was 7 days ago when the stock gained 3.8% on the news that the stock received a significant price target increase from financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald. The firm boosted its target to $280 from $175, while maintaining an "overweight" rating on the data storage provider. This optimism reflected a broader theme of soaring demand for high-capacity storage, driven by the explosive growth in artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing, and data centers. Seagate's new Heat-Assisted Magnetic Recording (HAMR) technology was seen as a key advantage, positioning the company ahead of its rivals. Adding to the positive news, Seagate formed a strategic alliance with cybersecurity firm Acronis to address the data growth from AI. The company's recent performance also supported the bullish sentiment, as it had reported quarterly revenue growth of 29.5% year-over-year, beating analyst expectations.
Seagate Technology is up 163% since the beginning of the year, and at $227.43 per share, it is trading close to its 52-week high of $229.33 from September 2025. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Seagate Technology’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $4,542.
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