One of the brightest performing Wall Street stocks in the past year ushered in another big day of gains this Wednesday: the stock price of Seagate Technology Holdings, a manufacturer of data storage equipment, closed up 19.11% that day, to US$265.62.

Previously, the company announced a first-quarter performance report that far exceeded market expectations and predicted continued strong growth in the next fiscal quarter. Due to the skyrocketing demand for data storage driven by artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud computing, Seagate Technology’s stock price has risen by more than 200% this year. This trend helps companies continue to raise prices and expand profits.

Analysts pointed out that the latest earnings report shows that these fundamentals remain solid. Specifically, the latest financial report showed that adjusted earnings per share for the quarter were $2.61, which was higher than analysts’ consensus estimate of $2.40. Revenue reached US$2.63 billion, a year-on-year increase of 21%, also exceeding market estimates of US$2.55 billion.

Looking forward, Seagate Technology expects second-quarter revenue of $2.7 billion (plus or minus $100 million), slightly higher than analysts’ expectations of $2.67 billion; earnings per share will be $2.75 (plus or minus $0.2).

Wall Street’s collective thumbs up

Morgan Stanley analyst Erik Woodring commented in a research report that this is a “real-time bull market.” Price increases and a shift toward higher-capacity storage drives helped Seagate’s adjusted gross margin hit a new high, which the bank called the “most impressive part” of the report.

“Going forward, we expect similar tailwinds to continue to drive gross margin upwards,” Woodring wrote.

Morgan Stanley maintained its “overweight” rating and raised its target price from $265 to $270.

Mark Miller, an analyst at research firm Benchmark Equity Research, pointed out that positive factors for Seagate Technology also include strong cloud computing demand and increased production of personal computers equipped with AI chips. Miller added that the company’s current order backlog extends into 2027.

Benchmark Equity Research raised its forecast for the company’s earnings growth in 2026 and 2027 after the earnings report was released, maintaining a “buy” rating and raising the target price to $255 from $250.

Even the only institution on Wall Street that still holds a pessimistic view has to recognize Seagate Technology’s performance.

Susquehanna International Group expects total capacity shipments of storage products to peak in the first half of 2027 in an industry that has historically been highly cyclical, after which the company’s revenue and profit margins are likely to decline.

However, the agency’s analyst Mehdi Hosseini also said in the research report that this quarter’s report showed “solid execution, no doubt.”