PairGain, Western Digital Stock Prices Rebound
TUSTIN — After two days in free fall, telecommunications equipment maker PairGain Technologies Inc.’s stock rose Tuesday by $2.25 a share, a gain of 14.5%, to close at $17.75 in heavy trading.
The stock price dropped a total of $5.625 in wild trading Friday and Monday as more than 16 million shares changed hands on the Nasdaq market. Volume topped 7.9 million shares Tuesday.
The stock fell as analysts said that industry price cutting would affect PairGain’s profit margins this year. The same analysts, however, have continued to recommend the stock as a good investment, and their reports apparently drove Tuesday’s upswing.
Separately, Irvine-based disk drive maker Western Digital Corp.’s stock rebounded a bit Tuesday, gaining $1.50 to close at $63.50 a share in heavy New York Stock Exchange trading after dropping by $4.25 Monday. The decline was driven by analysts’ reports that unhealthy levels of inventory might be building up in the disk drive industry. Western Digital on Tuesday said that wasn’t the case. Almost 3.4 million shares of the company’s stock were traded Tuesday.
