Seagate Technology (STX), first discussed here on July 8, 2009, at a price of $9.50, has seen its stock price erode from about $16.50 to $13.50 during the winter. If you haven't already, now would be a good time to consider taking some profits with Seagate, if you're in near $9.50.

However, those investors who can tolerate the risk can maintain their full position, and go for a bigger gain, but there are risks with STX.

One risk concerns the status of hard disk drive technology. The view from here argues there's at least one more upgrade cycle for desktop PCs -- to Seagate's benefit -- before society shifts to "the computer anywhere/everywhere" era.

When it comes to hard-disk drives, Western Digital (WDC) is the largest publicly traded operator in the U.S. And with its recent deal, it will get much larger. That is, the company has agreed to pay $4.3 billion for the data storage business of Hitachi.

Based on the stock move for Western Digital, investors love the transaction. In early Monday trading, the shares were up a sizzling 17.33% to $35.21.

Analyst Upgrades

• Medicis (MRX) to overweight from neutral at Piper Jaffray, to outperform from market perform at Bernstein, to outperform from sector perform at RBC Capital and to overweight from neutral at JPMorgan.
• Wellpoint (WLP) to buy from neutral at Davenport.
• Humana (HUM) to buy from hold at Jefferies.
• Frontier Oil (FTO) to equal weight from underweight and Resources Connection (RECN) to overweight from equal weight at Barclays.

Analyst upgrades:

• Verizon (VZ) to conviction buy from buy at Goldman.
• CSX (CSX) to outperform from market perform at Wells Fargo.
• AK Steel (AKS) to overweight from neutral, as well as Lorillard (LO) and Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB) to neutral from underweight, at JPMorgan.
• Marathon Oil (MRO) to overweight from equal weight at Morgan Stanley.
• Corning (GLW) to buy from outperform at CLSA.
• Quest Diagnostics (DGX) to buy from hold at Jefferies and to outperform from sector perform at RBC Capital.
• Salesforce.com (CRM) to buy from neutral at Roth Capital.
• Baker Hughes (BHI) to buy from hold at Weeden and to outperform from neutral at Macquarie.
• Western Digital (WDC) and Seagate (STX) to buy from underperform at BofA/Merrill.

Seagate Technology (STX), first discussed here on July 8, 2009, at a price of $9.50, has inched higher in the past four months, rising to about $13.30 from $11.

Further, it you're in near $9.50, that's a roughly 40% gain -- large enough to consider taking some profits with STX.

However, those investors who can tolerate the risk can maintain their full position, and go for a bigger gain, but there are risks.

After the closing bell sounded Wednesday, Seagate Technology (STX) reported its second-quarter results. The tech firm announced that it logged non-GAAP earnings of 33 cents per share ($159 million). The firm's earnings of 33 cents per share matched the consensus estimate, as did the firm's quarterly revenue of $2.72 billion.

STX also reported its performance during the six-month period that ended on Dec. 31, 2010. During this time, the firm's GAAP basis revenue was $5.4 billion, gross margin was 19.9%, net income totaled $299 million, and diluted earnings hit 61 cents per share.

Segate Technology (STX - option chain) stock is trading lower today after the company announced this morning it has cut off talks with private-equity firms about taking the company private, saying the potential suitors did not value the company highly enough. STX also announced it has added $2 billion to its stock buyback plan. If you think this stock won't be rising too far in the coming months, then it could be a good time to look at a bearish hedged play on STX.

This morning, STX opened at $13.26. So far today the stock has hit a high of $13.50 and a low of $13.15. As of 12:05, STX is trading at $13.47, down $0.39 (-2.8%). The chart for STX looks bearish and S&P gives STX a negative 2 STARS (out of 5) sell ranking.

Talk about close calls. Seagate Technology (STX), first discussed here on July 8, 2009, at a price of $9.50, came within about 80 cents of the $9 sell/stop loss this summer, during a bear-hug pattern plunge from $21.70.

Hopefully, you were able to withstand the swoon and retained the shares, as I still like STX. Here's why.

Seagate's 2010 revenue will likely jump 10% to 15% in fiscal 2010 and another 10% in 2011, propelled higher by adequate PC sales growth and the continued transition to digital content.

Analyst Upgrades

• Amazon.com (AMZN) was upgraded to buy from neutral at BofA/Merrill.
• Netflix (NFLX) was upgraded to outperform from perform at Oppenheimer and to neutral from sell at Janney Montgomery.
• Janney Montgomery also upgraded BJ's Wholesale (BJ) to buy from neutral.
• RW Baird upgraded Kforce.com (KFRC), SFN Group (SFN) and Young Innovations (YDNT) to outperform from neutral.
• NetSuite (N) was upgraded to neutral from underweight and Select Comfort (SCSS) was upgraded to overweight from neutral at Piper Jaffray.
• Flushing Financial (FFIC) was upgraded to outperform from market perform at Keefe Bruyette.
• National Instruments (NATI) was upgraded to buy from hold at Stifel Nicolaus.
• RBC Capital upgraded MDS Inc. (MDZ) to outperform from sector perform.