Seagate Posts 3Q Loss, Lower Sales

SCOTTS VALLEY, Calif. (AP) — Hard drive maker Seagate Technology posted a fiscal third-quarter net loss Tuesday, reversing a year-ago profit as sales dropped amid the global economic turmoil.

For the three months ended April 3, the company posted a net loss of $273 million, or 56 cents per share, down from a profit of $344 million, or 65 cents per share, a year earlier.

The latest quarter's results included 11 cents per share in special items — without these the company lost 45 cents per share.

Revenue fell 31 percent to $2.15 billion from $3.1 billion.

Analysts, on average, were expecting a loss of 45 cents per share, excluding items, on sales of $2.01 billion, according to a poll by Thomson Reuters.

Seagate said it expects to reach profitability within fiscal 2010.

Shares slid 8 cents to $6.59 in after-hours trading after closing up 21 cents, or 3.2 percent, at $6.67.