Shares of Lake Forest disk drive maker Western Digital Corp. rose Tuesday after an analyst started coverage of the stock with an upbeat view.
Western Digital’s shares closed up 2% Tuesday on a recent market value of $8 billion.
Citigroup Inc. analyst Joe Yoo gave a “buy” rating to Western Digital and said the company should see “a favorable supply-demand balance in the exiting year,” according to a report on Forbes.com.
“We expect hard disk drive shares to perform well as we near an inflection point in key metrics such as unit growth and gross margin within one to two quarters,” Yoo said in a note to clients.
Yoo said he favors Western Digital over its top rival, Scotts Valley-based Seagate Technology LLC, given Western Digital’s “better track record on execution, cost advantages and opportunities in the enterprise market,” the report showed.
He has a price target of $55 per share on Western Digital, which was trading at about $35 per share on Tuesday.
Western Digital is the top maker of disk drives for computers and consumer electronics by shipments, followed closely by Northern California’s Seagate.
Yoo pegged Seagate with a “buy” rating and a share target of $20. Seagate, which had a recent market value of $7 billion, was trading at $15 per share on Tuesday.
