Citi analyst Stanley Kovler upwardly revised his Hard Disk Drive industry estimates to account for growing storage capacity requirements in Cloud and areas like Surveillance that he sees driving demand. He now expects flat industry revenue on 3% decline in units and 3% increase in Average Selling Prices, versus his previous call for a 3% decline on a 5% decline in units and 2% increase in ASPs. Accordingly, Kovler raised his price target on Western Digital (WDC) to $80 from $75 and on Seagate (STX) to $42 from $38. The analyst keeps a Buy rating on Western Digital and a Neutral rating on Seagate.

Sees Q4 revenue $3.6B-$3.8B, consensus $3.69B.

Reports Q3 GAAP EPS 34c. Reports Q3 revenue $3.46B, consensus $3.36B. "As evidenced by our excellent third quarter results, Western Digital continues improving through-cycle profitability and dampening business cycles by leveraging our strategy of developing a diversified portfolio of industry-leading products across a broad range of end markets," said David Goeckeler, Western Digital CEO. "We are in the early innings of unlocking the full potential of this company, and as industry supply and demand dynamics continue to improve, we will remain disciplined around our capital spending and focused on driving innovation and efficiency across our businesses. We are confident in our strategy and the actions we have taken to-date, which successfully position us to capitalize on the promising growth prospects that lie ahead."

Pre-earnings options volume in Western Digital is 1.4x normal with calls leading puts 7:5. Implied volatility suggests the market is anticipating a move near 6.2%, or $4.32, after results are released. Median move over the past eight quarters is 2.1%.

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