AI Boosts Demand for Seagate, Western Digital, and Micron Technology: Will the Growth Continue?
Written by Emily J. Thompson, Senior Investment Analyst
Updated: Jan 02 2026
0mins
Source: Barron's
- Market Shift: The Magnificent Seven faced a significant decline in 2025 due to competition from the Suddenly Sexy 3, leading to a tripling of the latter's stock prices.
- Future Outlook: While history suggests that the Suddenly Sexy 3 may not maintain their success in 2026, the current oligopoly in the memory market offers a possibility for continued performance.
Trade with 70% Backtested Accuracy
Stop guessing "Should I Buy STX?" and start using high-conviction signals backed by rigorous historical data.
Sign up today to access powerful investing tools and make smarter, data-driven decisions.
Analyst Views on STX
Wall Street analysts forecast STX stock price to fall over the next 12 months. According to Wall Street analysts, the average 1-year price target for STX is 310.39 USD with a low forecast of 150.00 USD and a high forecast of 465.00 USD. However, analyst price targets are subjective and often lag stock prices, so investors should focus on the objective reasons behind analyst rating changes, which better reflect the company's fundamentals.
18 Analyst Rating
14 Buy
3 Hold
1 Sell
Moderate Buy
Current: 407.250
Low
150.00
Averages
310.39
High
465.00
Current: 407.250
Low
150.00
Averages
310.39
High
465.00
About STX
Seagate Technology Holdings plc provides mass-data storage infrastructure solution. The Company’s principal products are hard disk drives, commonly referred to as disk drives, hard drives (HDDs). In addition to HDDs, the Company produces a range of data storage products, including solid state drives (SSDs), solid state hybrid drives, storage subsystems, as well as a scalable edge-to-cloud mass data platform. Its HDD products are designed for mass capacity storage and legacy markets. Mass capacity storage involves use cases, such as hyperscale data centers and public clouds, as well as emerging use cases. The Company’s HDD and SSD product portfolio includes Serial Advanced Technology Attachment, Serial Attached SCSI and Non-Volatile Memory Express based designs to support a variety of mass capacity and legacy applications. Its systems portfolio includes storage subsystems for enterprises, cloud service providers, scale-out storage servers and original equipment manufacturers.
About the author
Emily J. Thompson
Emily J. Thompson, a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) with 12 years in investment research, graduated with honors from the Wharton School. Specializing in industrial and technology stocks, she provides in-depth analysis for Intellectia’s earnings and market brief reports.
Wall Street Rattled by Cisco's Cautious Outlook
- Cisco's Stock Plunge: Despite beating earnings and revenue expectations, Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) saw its shares drop over 11%, marking the worst single-day decline since May 2022, as investors expressed concerns over profit durability.
- Tech Sector Decline: The iShares Tech-Expanded Software Sector ETF (NYSE:IGV) fell 3.7%, revisiting lows from last week, indicating heightened sensitivity to AI disruption risks following Cisco's outlook.
- Small Caps Underperform: The Nasdaq 100 dropped 1.7%, while both the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 1.2%, with the Russell 2000 small-cap index sliding 2.4%, reflecting a cautious market sentiment.
- Increased Volatility: The VIX surged 16%, as investors rotated into defensive sectors, with utilities and consumer staples outperforming, highlighting a risk-off tone in the market.
See More
US Stock Market Volatility as Tech Stocks Weigh Down Indices
- Tech Stock Pressure: The S&P 500 index fell by 0.52% and the Nasdaq 100 index dropped by 1.08% due to weakness in the Magnificent Seven tech stocks, indicating investor concerns that could dampen market confidence.
- Cisco Profit Warning: Cisco Systems forecasted that rising memory chip prices would erode profitability, leading to a more than 10% drop in its stock price, which may prompt investors to revise down their future performance expectations, negatively impacting overall market sentiment.
- Employment Data Impact: Initial US jobless claims fell by 5,000 to 227,000, reflecting a slightly weaker labor market, which could influence the Federal Reserve's monetary policy decisions and lower market expectations for future rate cuts.
- Chip Demand Recovery: Sandisk's stock rose over 7% following Kioxia's forecast of strong demand for NAND memory chips, indicating growth potential in the AI infrastructure sector, which may create new investment opportunities for related companies.
See More
Crocs Shares Surge 21% on Strong Earnings Guidance
- Crocs Strong Guidance: Crocs shares surged 21% after the company projected adjusted earnings between $2.67 and $2.77 per share for the current quarter, exceeding the market expectation of $2.52, indicating resilience and growth potential in the current economic climate.
- Restaurant Brands Challenges: Despite reporting revenue and profit beats, Restaurant Brands' shares fell 6%, primarily due to rising costs, including beef, which pressured profits, reflecting the dual challenges of intensified industry competition and cost pressures.
- Cognex Stock Surge: Cognex shares jumped over 37% after reporting adjusted earnings and revenue beats for the fourth quarter, along with optimistic guidance for the current quarter, showcasing significant advancements in AI-enabled industrial machine vision technology.
- Equinix Exceeds Guidance: Equinix shares rose 12% after projecting adjusted EBITDA of $5.141 billion to $5.221 billion by 2026, surpassing analyst expectations, demonstrating strong growth potential in the digital infrastructure sector.
See More
Mixed U.S. Stock Market Performance with Tech Stocks Under Pressure
- Strong Chip Demand: Sandisk's stock surged over 8% following Kioxia's forecast of robust demand for NAND memory chips, indicating strong global demand for AI infrastructure, which boosts market confidence in tech stocks.
- Tech Stock Pressure: Cisco Systems' stock fell more than 9% as it warned that rising memory chip prices would erode profitability, limiting overall gains in tech stocks and reflecting cost pressures faced by the industry.
- Labor Market Data: U.S. initial jobless claims fell by 5,000 to 227,000, indicating a slightly weaker labor market than the expected 223,000, which may affect market expectations for future economic growth.
- Corporate Earnings Optimism: Over two-thirds of S&P 500 companies have reported earnings, with 78% exceeding expectations, and Q4 earnings growth is projected at 8.4%, providing support for the market and demonstrating corporate resilience.
See More
Western Digital's 970% Stock Surge: The AI Data Storage Revolution
- Stock Surge: Western Digital's stock skyrocketed from $28.83 in April 2025 to $307.50, marking a 970% increase driven by surging AI storage demand and margin expansion, underscoring the company's pivotal role in AI infrastructure.
- Strong Financial Performance: In fiscal Q2 2026, Western Digital reported revenue of $2.655 billion, shipping 215 exabytes of storage in a single quarter, with gross margins rising to 46.1%, and full-year revenue expected to double, exceeding $12 billion, indicating robust growth potential in the market.
- Technological Innovation: The company is developing HAMR technology, targeting 100TB hard drives by 2029, which is expected to significantly reduce the cost structure of AI storage, while new high-bandwidth drive technology will double sequential throughput, enhancing data center efficiency.
- Long-term Contracts Secured: Multi-year procurement agreements with top clients like AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud ensure stable revenue streams for the coming years, indicating that Western Digital has transformed from a traditional hardware supplier into a key infrastructure provider for AI data storage.
See More
HubSpot Reports Strong Q3 Earnings, Shares Surge 9.4%
- Earnings Beat: HubSpot reported quarterly earnings of $3.09 per share, surpassing analyst expectations of $2.99, indicating robust profitability and boosting market confidence in the company's future performance.
- Significant Revenue Growth: The quarterly revenue reached $846.75 million, exceeding the Street estimate of $830.54 million and marking a 20.4% increase from $703.17 million in the same period last year, showcasing HubSpot's competitive strength in the market.
- Stock Price Surge: Following the positive earnings report, HubSpot's shares jumped 9.4% to $228.93 on Thursday, reflecting investor optimism about the company's growth potential and likely attracting more investor interest.
- Mixed Market Performance: While U.S. stocks showed mixed results overall, HubSpot's strong performance distinguished it among many stocks, demonstrating relative resilience and appeal in a fluctuating market.
See More
Wall Street Rattled by Cisco's Cautious Outlook
- Cisco's Stock Plunge: Despite beating earnings and revenue expectations, Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) saw its shares drop over 11%, marking the worst single-day decline since May 2022, as investors expressed concerns over profit durability.
- Tech Sector Decline: The iShares Tech-Expanded Software Sector ETF (NYSE:IGV) fell 3.7%, revisiting lows from last week, indicating heightened sensitivity to AI disruption risks following Cisco's outlook.
- Small Caps Underperform: The Nasdaq 100 dropped 1.7%, while both the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 1.2%, with the Russell 2000 small-cap index sliding 2.4%, reflecting a cautious market sentiment.
- Increased Volatility: The VIX surged 16%, as investors rotated into defensive sectors, with utilities and consumer staples outperforming, highlighting a risk-off tone in the market.
See More
US Stock Market Volatility as Tech Stocks Weigh Down Indices
- Tech Stock Pressure: The S&P 500 index fell by 0.52% and the Nasdaq 100 index dropped by 1.08% due to weakness in the Magnificent Seven tech stocks, indicating investor concerns that could dampen market confidence.
- Cisco Profit Warning: Cisco Systems forecasted that rising memory chip prices would erode profitability, leading to a more than 10% drop in its stock price, which may prompt investors to revise down their future performance expectations, negatively impacting overall market sentiment.
- Employment Data Impact: Initial US jobless claims fell by 5,000 to 227,000, reflecting a slightly weaker labor market, which could influence the Federal Reserve's monetary policy decisions and lower market expectations for future rate cuts.
- Chip Demand Recovery: Sandisk's stock rose over 7% following Kioxia's forecast of strong demand for NAND memory chips, indicating growth potential in the AI infrastructure sector, which may create new investment opportunities for related companies.
See More
Crocs Shares Surge 21% on Strong Earnings Guidance
- Crocs Strong Guidance: Crocs shares surged 21% after the company projected adjusted earnings between $2.67 and $2.77 per share for the current quarter, exceeding the market expectation of $2.52, indicating resilience and growth potential in the current economic climate.
- Restaurant Brands Challenges: Despite reporting revenue and profit beats, Restaurant Brands' shares fell 6%, primarily due to rising costs, including beef, which pressured profits, reflecting the dual challenges of intensified industry competition and cost pressures.
- Cognex Stock Surge: Cognex shares jumped over 37% after reporting adjusted earnings and revenue beats for the fourth quarter, along with optimistic guidance for the current quarter, showcasing significant advancements in AI-enabled industrial machine vision technology.
- Equinix Exceeds Guidance: Equinix shares rose 12% after projecting adjusted EBITDA of $5.141 billion to $5.221 billion by 2026, surpassing analyst expectations, demonstrating strong growth potential in the digital infrastructure sector.
See More
Mixed U.S. Stock Market Performance with Tech Stocks Under Pressure
- Strong Chip Demand: Sandisk's stock surged over 8% following Kioxia's forecast of robust demand for NAND memory chips, indicating strong global demand for AI infrastructure, which boosts market confidence in tech stocks.
- Tech Stock Pressure: Cisco Systems' stock fell more than 9% as it warned that rising memory chip prices would erode profitability, limiting overall gains in tech stocks and reflecting cost pressures faced by the industry.
- Labor Market Data: U.S. initial jobless claims fell by 5,000 to 227,000, indicating a slightly weaker labor market than the expected 223,000, which may affect market expectations for future economic growth.
- Corporate Earnings Optimism: Over two-thirds of S&P 500 companies have reported earnings, with 78% exceeding expectations, and Q4 earnings growth is projected at 8.4%, providing support for the market and demonstrating corporate resilience.
See More
Western Digital's 970% Stock Surge: The AI Data Storage Revolution
- Stock Surge: Western Digital's stock skyrocketed from $28.83 in April 2025 to $307.50, marking a 970% increase driven by surging AI storage demand and margin expansion, underscoring the company's pivotal role in AI infrastructure.
- Strong Financial Performance: In fiscal Q2 2026, Western Digital reported revenue of $2.655 billion, shipping 215 exabytes of storage in a single quarter, with gross margins rising to 46.1%, and full-year revenue expected to double, exceeding $12 billion, indicating robust growth potential in the market.
- Technological Innovation: The company is developing HAMR technology, targeting 100TB hard drives by 2029, which is expected to significantly reduce the cost structure of AI storage, while new high-bandwidth drive technology will double sequential throughput, enhancing data center efficiency.
- Long-term Contracts Secured: Multi-year procurement agreements with top clients like AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud ensure stable revenue streams for the coming years, indicating that Western Digital has transformed from a traditional hardware supplier into a key infrastructure provider for AI data storage.
See More
HubSpot Reports Strong Q3 Earnings, Shares Surge 9.4%
- Earnings Beat: HubSpot reported quarterly earnings of $3.09 per share, surpassing analyst expectations of $2.99, indicating robust profitability and boosting market confidence in the company's future performance.
- Significant Revenue Growth: The quarterly revenue reached $846.75 million, exceeding the Street estimate of $830.54 million and marking a 20.4% increase from $703.17 million in the same period last year, showcasing HubSpot's competitive strength in the market.
- Stock Price Surge: Following the positive earnings report, HubSpot's shares jumped 9.4% to $228.93 on Thursday, reflecting investor optimism about the company's growth potential and likely attracting more investor interest.
- Mixed Market Performance: While U.S. stocks showed mixed results overall, HubSpot's strong performance distinguished it among many stocks, demonstrating relative resilience and appeal in a fluctuating market.
See More
