Citi says HDD storage prices ticking up

Citi analyst Atif Malik said recent talks with U.S. supply chain sources indicate HDD storage prices have started ticking up on nearline enterprise drives, which the firm believes is consistent with the commentary from HDD makers like Seagate (STX) that excess HDD storage inventory is resolved. The firm, which expects NAND sequential price declines to improve in Q2 and prices to bottom out in Q3, maintains its view that the semiconductor equipment group bottomed in October last year and memory/equipment stocks went into correction first and will likely see fundamentals recover first. The firm adds that it remains constructive on the equipment group and tactically long Lam Research (LRCX) on an expected NAND recovery.