Key Takeaways:
- 24/7 Wall St. rates STX a Buy with a $916.29 price target, implying 5.53% upside
- Seagate's Q3 revenue hit $3.11B, up 44.1% YoY, with non-GAAP gross margins expanding to 47%
- Nearline capacity is fully allocated through calendar 2026, with HAMR Mozaic drives qualified at all five major cloud customers
Seagate Technology Holdings Plc (NASDAQ:STX) received a Buy rating and $916.29 price target from 24/7 Wall St., representing 5.53% upside from the current $868.26 quote, as the hard drive maker's hyperscaler storage cycle shows no signs of decelerating.
"Seagate is entering a new era of structural growth as AI applications amplify data creation," Chief Executive Officer Dave Mosley told investors on the company's fiscal third-quarter earnings call. The company reported revenue of $3.11 billion, beating the $3.50 consensus for non-GAAP EPS by $0.60, with free cash flow surging to $953 million.
The stock has gained 485.78% over the past year and 216.08% year to date, riding a wave of AI infrastructure demand that has transformed the legacy storage company into one of the market's most aggressive trades. Management guided fiscal fourth-quarter revenue to $3.45 billion and EPS to $5.00 at the midpoint. Non-GAAP gross margin expanded to 47% from 36.2% a year earlier.
STX has pulled back 10.35% over the past week after a 10.38% drop on July 2 tied to AI supply glut concerns across memory names, leaving it 17% below its 52-week high of $1,144.18. The stock trades at a trailing P/E of 78, more than double the sector average near 35.
Wall Street's Bull Case Builds
Melius Research initiated coverage at Buy with a $1,600 target, while Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded to Overweight at $1,300 and Bank of America raised its target to $1,150. The bull case rests on nearline capacity being fully allocated through calendar 2026, with orders for the first half of 2027 opening soon. HAMR-based Mozaic drives are now qualified with all five largest cloud customers, and agentic AI alongside video workloads sit at the center of demand.
24/7 Wall St.'s bull-case scenario projects STX at $1,203.83 in twelve months. The bear case lands at $678.44, a 21.86% drawdown, driven by risk of pricing pushback on 2027 contract renewals and a potential memory-sector rotation.
Insider Activity Flags Caution
Insider transactions show 243 recent trades skewed to selling. Mosley sold 9,343 shares on July 1 under a Rule 10b5-1 plan adopted in February, representing a small fraction of his 319,380 remaining shares. The firm projects price targets of $968 for 2027, $1,020 for 2028, $1,070 for 2029, and $1,121 for 2030, assuming Seagate executes on its HAMR roadmap toward 5 TB per disk by 2028 and hyperscale storage demand holds.
The Buy rating signals that management's structural growth thesis remains intact despite the recent pullback. Investors will watch the fiscal Q4 report for updated segment margins and any commentary on 2027 contract pricing negotiations.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.