An analyst downgraded shares of Lake Forest disk drive maker Western Digital Corp. Wednesday on concerns about prices falling next year.

Western Digital's stock closed down nearly 2% on a recent market value of about $9 billion.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch analyst Scott Craig slashed his Western Digital rating to “underperform” from “buy.”

He also tacked on the same rating to rival Scotts Valley-based Seagate Technology LLC, the top maker of disk drives for computers and consumer electronics. Western Digital is No. 2 to Seagate.

Craig set Western Digital’s price target at $35 per share. Shares were trading at around $38 on Wednesday.

He cited concerns that both Western Digital’s and Seagate’s dramatic rises this year could start to slow.

“While the end demand environment and possible inventory replenishment may drive the stocks higher near-term, we believe the easy money in the cyclical hard-disk drive stocks has been made,” Craig said in a research note.

Both Western Digital’s and Seagate’s stocks are up about 200% for the year.

Craig anticipates that price cutting could resume next year as both companies increase their spending and manufacturing capacities to meet demand, according to a report on financial news Web site Barrons.com.