Seagate Boosts Profit

SAN FRANCISCO -- Seagate(STX Quote - Cramer on STX - Stock Picks) edged Wall Street's second-quarter earnings estimate as profit nearly tripled, but the storage giant's third-quarter revenue outlook took shares lower after hours.

The company said Thursday that net income for the quarter ended Dec. 28 rose to $403 million, or 73 cents a share, from $140 million, or 23 cents a share, a year earlier.

Excluding charges, Seagate earned 76 cents a share, edging analysts' estimate of 75 cents a share, as polled by Thomson Financial.

Revenue rose to $3.42 billion from $3 billion a year earlier. Analysts had expected $3.49 billion.

For its third quarter, Seagate said it expects to earn 62 cents to 66 cents a share before items on revenue of $3.2 billion to $3.3 billion.

Analysts had expected earnings of 62 cents a share on revenue of $3.31 billion.

Shares of Seagate were off 60 cents, or 2.8%, to $21 in extended trading.