Western Digital Slumps

Western Digital Corp.’s stock fell 8% Monday after a Bear Stearns analyst told his sales force that prices remain competitive in the disk-drive market.

The stock of the Irvine-based disk-drive maker slumped about 10% to $42.63 early in the trading session after the comments by Bear Stearns analyst Andrew Neff. The stock recovered somewhat Monday to close at $44, down $3.75, in heavy trading on the New York Stock Exchange. More than 7.8 million shares changed hands, more than double the average daily volume.

Neff said he didn’t lower his earnings estimates for Western Digital.