2 Analysts Say PC Demand Will Boost Fortunes Of Western Digital, Seagate

Prime beneficiaries of a rebounding personal computer markets are Western Digital (NASDAQ: WDC) and Seagate Technology PLC (NASDAQ: STX) according to at least two separate analyst reports Monday.

"We expect PC market strength to continue," Deutsche Bank's Sherri Scribner said in a research note, adding that both companies will recover in the second half of 2014.

Scribner raised her fiscal fourth-quarter earnings estimate for Western Digital to $1.82 per share (from $1.72) and her target to from $100 to $118, maintaining a Buy rating.

Analysts on average have a Western Digital target of $99.74 and expect the company to post $1.73 per share in profits.

For Seagate, Scribner boosted her target to from $74 to $84 per share. Analysts on average have a target price of $59.84 and expect earnings of $1.01 per share.

An improving economy and the extended lives of existing personal computers are the driving growing demand for PCs and thus boosting the companies' fortunes, Scribner said.

Scribner also cited slowing growth for tablets, as well as upgrades related to a Microsoft operating system as positive market influences.

Separately Monday, RBC Capital forecast that the PC demand trend will continue and said similarly that Western and Seagate are among companies with the most to gain from the trend. RBC maintained a Buy rating on both companies.

Seagate traded recently at $59.65, up 0.33 percent; Western Digital changed hands at $98.64, up nearly one percent.