Brean Sees Catalysts For Western Digital Corp, Seagate Technology PLC

A couple of hard-drive makers got higher targets assigned Monday an analyst who said the shares will move up on pending quarterly profit surprises and positive regulatory news from China.Brean Capital's Ananda Baruah boosted her target on Western Digital Corp. (NASDAQ: WDC) 20 percent to $150 a share and on Seagate Technology PLC (NASDAQ: STX) by about 19 percent to $83."Our long-term thesis of margin expansion continues to play out, Baruah said in a note maintaining a Buy rating on each company.For Western, Baruah expects earnings for its December quarter of $2.20 a share, compared with the Street consensus of $2 a share.Moreover, regulators in China appear increasingly likely to approve Western's pending request to fully integrate its 2012 acquisition of HTSG there with Western's operations. The deal remains under a "hold separate" restriction.Baruah said a positive decision from China's Ministry of Commerce, or MOFCOM, could add up to $2 a share to Western's annual adjusted earnings, while also producing "positive sentiment" for Seagate shares.Meanwhile Seagate could post $1.38 a share in earnings for its December quarter, versus expectations of $1.34 a share. Baruah added that Seagate's 3.2 percent dividend yield is notably higher than the average 1.5 percent to 2 percent typically offered by similar companies.For Western Digital, Baruah sees earni