Seagate Expands Storage Portfolio With FireCuda Forge Launch
Seagate Technology Holdings plc STX has expanded the storage portfolio with the launch of FireCuda Forge, its first hard drive powered by the new Alkemi intelligent storage platform. The solution combines solid-state drive (“SSD”) responsiveness with hard disk drive (“HDD”) capacity in a single storage solution, providing gamers and content creators with faster access and space for larger data libraries.
The Alkemi platform uses dynamic caching technology to identify frequently accessed files from the user-provided SSD. Meanwhile, the HDD provides space for larger collections of data. The technology automatically manages data placement.
FireCuda Forge delivers read speeds of up to 2,500 MB/s and write speeds of up to 2,000 MB/s. The device features an upgradeable HDD. It is available in 8TB and 20TB configurations, priced at $699 and $899, respectively.
The launch strengthens Seagate's consumer storage portfolio amid growing demand for high-capacity solutions. The company’s Edge IoT business generated revenues of $784 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2027, increasing 52% year over year and 13% sequentially.
Seagate Technology Holdings PLC Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise
Seagate Technology Holdings PLC price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Seagate Technology Holdings PLC Quote
The segment broadens Seagate’s exposure beyond hyperscale and enterprise data centers into industrial, commercial and consumer environments where data is increasingly created, processed and stored closer to its source. Its Edge IoT portfolio ranges from 1TB to 32TB and supports video and image applications, NAS, smart infrastructure, personal computing, gaming, streaming, creative workflows and data backup.
Seagate is also advancing its high-capacity storage technology for data centers. The data center end market accounted for 81% of total revenues, at $3.4 billion, representing an 18% sequential increase and 63% year-over-year growth. Global cloud customers represented a major share of data center revenues and exabyte demand, a trend expected to persist as Mozaic 4 production ramps.
STX expects HAMR to account for roughly 50% of nearline exabyte shipments by the end of 2026, with Mozaic 4 representing about half of HAMR shipments. Additionally, Microsoft Azure's qualification of Seagate's HAMR-based SMR solution with Broadcom strengthens its hyperscale positioning.
Mapping the Competitive Terrain
Western Digital Corporation WDC is one of STX’s closest competitors in the HDD space. The company offers HDD solutions for consumer, client and cloud applications. In the first quarter of fiscal 2027, Western Digital's Client revenues surged 119% year over year to $320 million, while Consumer revenues increased 19% to $193 million, reflecting strong demand.
Western Digital's transition to higher capacity drives positions it well to capture the increasing market opportunities amid growing storage requirements. On the lastearnings call management noted that WDC’s latest ePMR platform, offering capacities of up to 40TB, is expected to account for nearly 30% of nearline exabyte shipments in fiscal second-quarter 2027 and 50% in the fiscal third quarter of 2027.
Seagate also faces competition from Sandisk Corporation SNDK, which became a standalone company after being spun off from Western Digital. In the first quarter of fiscal 2027, Sandisk's Consumer revenues totaled $397 million, declining 29% sequentially as customers adjusted to higher prices. Nevertheless, management highlighted Sandisk's strong consumer brand presence and broad distribution network as key strengths supporting the business.
Edge revenues were $5.8 billion, up 7% sequentially, driven by premium and mainstream markets, while data center revenues were up 61% sequentially to $4.8 billion.
STX Price Performance, Valuation and Estimates
In the past month, STX’s shares have lost 33.4% compared with the Zacks Computer Integrated Systems industry decline of 19.2%.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
STX’s shares are trading at a forward price-to-earnings multiple of 10.61X, higher than the industry’s 8.36X.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for STX’s earnings for fiscal 2027 has been revised up 7.4% to $38.77 per share over the past 60 days.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Currently, Seagate holds a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Beyond Nvidia: AI's Second Wave Is Here
The AI revolution has already minted millionaires. But the stocks everyone knows about aren't likely to keep delivering the biggest profits. AI’s second wave is moving from infrastructure to implementation and these companies are at the forefront of this transition, positioned to become what Amazon and Google were to the internet era.
See Stocks Now >>Seagate Technology Holdings PLC (STX) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Western Digital Corporation (WDC) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Sandisk Corporation (SNDK) : Free Stock Analysis Report
This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
