UPDATE: Brean Murray Carret Raises Western Digital's PT

According to a research report published earlier today, Brean Murray Carret has increased Western Digital Corp.'s WDC PT from $42 to $45 ahead of a deal closure between Toshiba and Hitachi HIT. In the report, Brean Murray Carret commented, “WDC announced it has reached an agreement to sell Toshiba a portion of Hitachi's 3.5in drive business, in essence clearing the way for final regulatory approval and closure of WDC's acquisition of Hitachi's drive business. No term of the deal were released, but the Japanese paper The Nikkei reported the volumes to be sold were ~25k units, or ~25% - 30% of our estimated Hitachi volume for 2012. Furthermore, we believe it is most likely the volumes are desktop PC and Consumer electronic drives (so lower margin all else equal).” Brean Murray Carret maintains its Buy rating on Western Digital, which closed yesterday at $39.38.