Lake Forest disk drive maker Western Digital Corp. can expect a happy holiday due to an end-of-the-year boost in shipments, according to recent data from El Segundo-based market researcher iSuppli Corp.
Western Digital and its top rival, Scotts Valley-based Seagate Technology LLC, are benefiting from stable prices for drives, rising demand and steady stockpiles.
Total disk drive shipments are expected to total 169 million units in the fourth quarter, up 2% from the third quarter.
Disk drive revenue is seen as growing 2% to $9 billion, iSuppli’s data showed.
“The fourth-quarter increases in disk drive shipments and revenues reflect positive developments on several fronts, including the stabilization of prices, strong demand from the enterprise segment and a return to normal inventory levels,” said Fang Zhang, analyst for storage systems at iSuppli, now part of Colorado’s IHS Inc.
ISuppli expects drive prices to stay flat for the balance of the year. Stable prices are a good thing for the industry—it keeps profit margins intact and prevents undercutting.
Western Digital is projected to keep its market share dominance as the No. 1 seller of drives that go into computers, servers, external storage devices and consumer electronics.
The company is expected to ship 51.5 million drives in the current quarter, up 1.7% from the third quarter, iSuppli’s data showed.
Seagate is expected to ship 49.5 million drives, roughly flat from the third quarter.
In terms of sales, the rankings are reversed.
Seagate is predicted to maintain its lead in the fourth quarter with sales of $2.8 billion, up 3.7% from the third quarter.
Seagate makes more on its higher-end drives that go into servers and computers used by corporations.
Western Digital is a bigger player in consumer products, where prices are lower.
Western Digital, which had a recent market value of $7.5 billion, is seen as having sales of $2.4 billion in the current quarter, roughly flat from the third quarter.
