New York, February 5, 2026, 19:11 EST — After-hours
Seagate Technology Holdings plc shares closed 3.3% lower Thursday at $405.45 and held that price in after-hours trading. The stock swung between $393.00 and $424.89 after kicking off the day at $413.56.
The drop continues a steep selloff in a fast-rising AI-driven hardware stock, leaving traders to debate if it’s merely profit-taking or signals a broader shift. Seagate, often seen as a stand-in for data-center storage demand, is now showing a more volatile pattern.
The broader tech sector took a hit, with the Nasdaq falling to its lowest point since November as investors digested another surge in Big Tech’s capex on artificial intelligence. Amazon plunged an additional 10% after hours. “We’re seeing this volatility about whether this investment will translate, ultimately, into results,” said Tom Hainlin, investment strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management. Melissa Brown of SimCorp put it bluntly: “The AI trade which was the accelerant last year is perhaps the extinguisher this year.” Reuters
Storage stocks followed the market trend. Western Digital dropped 3.4%, closing at $260.19 on Thursday. NetApp also edged down, losing 0.9%.
Seagate has dropped for the second day in a row, now trading roughly 11.8% below its 52-week peak of $459.41 set on Feb. 3. On Thursday, volume climbed to 5.6 million shares, surpassing the 50-day average of 4.4 million, according to MarketWatch.
Seagate fell 5.8% to close at $418.63 on Wednesday, snapping a two-day rally. NetApp climbed 5.3%, while Western Digital slipped 7.2%. Trading volume exceeded 6.6 million shares, according to MarketWatch.
Seagate’s late-January rally came on the heels of its fiscal second-quarter results and a positive outlook. The company posted revenue of $2.83 billion and non-GAAP earnings per share of $3.11, excluding certain items. CEO Dave Mosley said the quarter “exceeded our expectations on both the top and bottom line” as ramp-ups of its HAMR-based Mozaic drives gained traction — HAMR technology uses heat to pack data more densely on disks. For the fiscal third quarter, Seagate forecasted revenue around $2.90 billion, plus or minus $100 million, and announced a $0.74-per-share dividend payable April 8 to shareholders of record on March 25. Seagate Investors
Seagate’s forecast beat Wall Street estimates, Reuters reported, driven by customers ramping up data centers to handle AI workloads and the associated storage demands. The stock surged over threefold in 2025, fueled by investors piling into the AI infrastructure sector.
Macro catalysts are shifting as well. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics announced the January jobs report will drop next Wednesday, following a short government shutdown. The January CPI data is set for release the Friday after.
The BLS has scheduled the January jobs report for 8:30 a.m. ET on Feb. 11.
MarketWatch said the shutdown has postponed the jobs report by five days, moving it to Feb. 11, and pushed the CPI release to Feb. 13. This shift changes the spotlight for next week’s trading. Seagate now faces the challenge of holding its share price steady ahead of those key dates after suffering two sharp declines.
