Morgan Stanley’s industry and channel checks showed demand continuing to outstrip supply and robust cloud spending, increasing its confidence in the longevity of the HDD upcycle.
Seagate Technology Holdings, Inc. (STX) stock rose on Thursday after a Morgan Stanley analyst projected roughly 38% upside potential.
Analyst Erik Woodring on Thursday increased the price target for Seagate stock to $138 from $134. He reiterated the data storage devices company as the brokerage’s “IT Hardware Top Pick.”
Woodring said he remains confident in the sustainability of the hard-disk drive (HDD) cycle and structurally stronger gross margins. According to the analyst, these will support positive earnings per share (EPS) revisions and multiple re-ratings.
Morgan Stanley’s industry and channel checks showed demand continuing to outstrip supply and robust cloud spending, increasing its confidence in the longevity of the HDD upcycle.
Woodring highlighted the typical positive correlation trend between the stock price and the growth in HDD capacity.
He noted that despite the new higher tax assumption, his 2026/2027 EPS estimates were still 5-15% above the consensus, primarily because the Street’s gross estimates were too low.
The analyst sees Seagate’s March 4 presentation at the Morgan Stanley Tech Media and Telecom (TMT) conference, earnings release likely in mid-April, and the May 22 Analyst Day as the key upcoming catalysts.
On Stocktwits, the retail sentiment toward Seagate stock turned ‘bullish’ (63/100) from the ‘neutral’ mood that prevailed a day ago. However, the message volume on the stream remained ‘low.’

A retail watcher said Seagate and Micron Technology, Inc. (MU) will be part of their long-term holding, premised on the logic that artificial intelligence (AI) cannot progress without these two companies.
Seagate last traded up 3.31% to $103.51. It has gained more than 16% so far this year.
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