Baird Analyst Sees Samsung-Seagate Takeover As 'Unlikely'

When asked about a rumor that Samsung was interested in a buyout of Seagate Technology PLC (NASDAQ: STX), Baird & Co analyst Jayson Noland said he would be surprised by that move given Samsung’s actions in the past.

“My impression at the time was that Samsung made a strategic decision to exit the hard drive market by selling its hard drive business to Seagate. So for them to come back and decide to more than double down on the space seems unlikely,” he said.

Noland also mentioned that he didn’t know if that would be considered a core competency. He added that it can be hard to predict what Japanese and Korean firms consider strategic, but maintained that he would still be surprised by that move.

Seagate popped earlier in the trading day, but was last up about 0.21 percent.

Brianna Valleskey contributed to this report.