Seagate Technology PLC STX

The bottom line

What moves this stock is demand for high-capacity storage from data centers and cloud: quarterly revenue was $4.233B, up 61% year over year and 16.6% sequentially, with $1.761B net income and $1.479B free cash flow. A P/E of 33.8 sits below the sector median of 39, so the price assumes this profitability level persists rather than being a one-off quarter. The central tension is extreme volatility (beta 2.08, 6.76% average daily range) and a 44% drawdown, with the $644.58 price at 46% of its 52-week range versus a $1,032 average analyst target. The balance sheet shows $2.35B debt against $1.26B cash.

An explanation of the mechanics from the facts on this page, not advice.

What the company does

Seagate Technology PLC is a large-cap company in the Technology sector (Computer Hardware), with a market value of $148.3B, based in the USA.

It employs about 30,000 people and has been listed since Dec 11, 2002.

Seagate Technology Holdings plc engages in providing data storage solutions in Singapore, the United States, the Netherlands, and internationally. The company offers External and internal hard drives; external and internal solid-state drives (SSDs); enterprise hard drives and SSDs; data storage systems; network attached storage (NAS) hard drives; video and analytics hard drives; and hyperscale and cloud solution. It offers its products for Healthcare, Media & Entertainment, Surveillance & Security, and telecommunication industry.

Cheap or expensive? priced in line with its group

Its price-to-earnings (P/E) is 33.8 versus 39.0 for the median of the Technology sector in our universe (65 companies) — priced in line with its group.

Revenue is growing 61% versus the same quarter last year.

On analysts' next-year forecasts the multiple drops to 17.1 — they expect higher earnings.

The average analyst price target is 1032.54, 60% above the current price (their view, not ours).

The stock sits at 46% of its one-year range (0% = the low, 100% = the high).

The risks

• • The stock is more volatile than average (beta 2.1) — big daily moves both ways.
• • The stock is 44% below its one-year high.

Strengths

• ✅ Profitable — 42 of every 100 dollars of revenue stays as profit.
• ✅ Generates free cash flow — profit becomes cash in the bank.
• ✅ Most analysts rate it buy (22 vs 0).
• ✅ Revenue is growing 61% a year.
• ✅ Pays a dividend (0.4% a year).

What the market is talking about this week

A record quarter in revenue, margins and cash flow driven by AI-related storage demand, with above-consensus guidance but a muted share reaction.

• Seagate reported quarterly revenue of $4.23 billion, up 61% year over year, and adjusted earnings of $7.68 per share, above analyst estimates. [1] [4] [5] [6]
• Guidance for next quarter: about $4.8 billion revenue and roughly $9.20 adjusted EPS, both well above what analysts expected. [1]
• Data centers accounted for about 90% of shipped capacity; adjusted gross margin rose to 57.8% from 40.1% a year earlier. [1] [4] [6]
• Record free cash flow of about $1.5 billion in the quarter, alongside rapid debt reduction, according to the reports. [4] [6]
• Seagate was listed among companies that recently announced a dividend increase, in an article about dividend stocks during volatile markets. [3]

A summary of the articles below only, each point with its source. Not a forecast, not a recommendation.

What to watch

• Whether next quarter's revenue reaches about $4.8 billion and adjusted EPS about $9.20, as Seagate's management guided. (Q4 CY2026) [1]
• Adjusted gross margin in the next report — management said margin expansion will be supported by value-based pricing and product mix. [1] [4]
• The pace of Mozaic/HAMR drive shipments and long-term supply agreements with large cloud customers, which the growth outlook rests on. [1] [6]
• Continued debt reduction against $1.26B cash and $2.35B debt, plus the pace of dividend payments.

What changed this week

Over the past week the stock rose 2.2% (for comparison: S&P 500 -0.6%, sector ETF XLK -2.0%).

The company published its quarterly report this week — see the plain-language summary above.

This week's news

• STX Q3 deep dive: data center strength and technology transition drive outperformance finance.yahoo.com · 2026-10-31
  Deep dive on the quarter: revenue $4.23 billion (+61%), adjusted EPS $7.68, 48.8% operating margin, and next-quarter guidance of $4.8 billion. source ↗
• Intel’s Plunge Today Makes It October’s Worst S&P 500 Stock. Accenture Is the Month’s Big Winner. finance.yahoo.com · 2026-10-30
  An article about Intel being October's worst S&P 500 stock; it does not discuss Seagate. source ↗
• Buy These 4 Stocks That Declared Dividend Hikes Amid Market Volatility finance.yahoo.com · 2026-10-30
  Seagate is named as one of four companies that announced dividend hikes, against a Fed decision to hold rates at 3.75%-4%. source ↗
• Should Investors Buy Seagate's Shares After Q1 Earnings Momentum? finance.yahoo.com · 2026-10-30
  Zacks review: revenue rose from $2.63B to $4.23B, 57.8% adjusted gross margin, $1.48B free cash flow, and the stock gained 173.7% in a year. source ↗
• The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights Western Digital and Seagate Technology finance.yahoo.com · 2026-10-30
  A comparison of Western Digital and Seagate after earnings: Western Digital reported $4.38 billion (+55%) and adjusted EPS of $4.64. source ↗
• Seagate (STX) Q1 Earnings Ride Record Cash Flow And AI Demand finance.yahoo.com · 2026-10-29
  Results analysis: net income $1,761m versus $549m a year ago, 198 exabytes to data centers, and the stock rose only about 0.4% after the release. source ↗

What changed since last week

This is the first summary for this stock; from next week this section shows what changed.