High Tide for Seagate
Disk drive maker
Seagate
(STX) - Get Report
on Tuesday reported fiscal first-quarter earnings that beat Wall Street's and its own lofty expectations.
On the strength of 47 million disk drive shipments, the Scotts Valley, Calif., company reported revenue of $3.29 billion, vs. $2.79 billion in the year-ago period. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected revenue of $3.22 billion.
Seagate reported GAAP net income of $355 million, or 64 cents per diluted share. Excluding charges associated with the company's acquisitions of Maxtor and EVault, Seagate earned $385 million, or 69 cents a share. Analysts predicted earnings of 64 cents a share.
"The first fiscal quarter has historically been a strong one for Seagate, and this year, we benefited from unit demand greater than expected," CEO Bill Watkins said in a company statement. "We believe we are well positioned to continue driving year-over-year revenue growth, and these record quarterly results demonstrate the effectiveness of Seagate's business model."
The results came in a quarter in which Seagate faced falling prices for its products amid a price war involving rivals
Western Digital
(WDC) - Get Report
and
Hitachi
(HIT)
.
Still, Seagate in August
upped its quarterly earnings and revenue outlooks. It raised its earnings guidance to between 62 cents and 66 cents a share, well above its original forecast of 40 cents to 44 cents a share. It also boosted its expected revenue range to $3.15 billion to $3.25 billion, above its earlier view of roughly $3 billion.
Looking ahead, the company is optimistic about its second quarter that ends in December. The company sees revenue of between $3.4 billion and $3.5 billion, and GAAP diluted net income of between 66 cents and 70 cents a share. Excluding charges of approximately $26 million related to the Maxtor and EVault acquisitions, the company sees diluted net income of between 71 cents and 75 cents a share.
Analysts expect second-quarter earnings of 69 cents a share on revenue of $3.40 billion.
Seagate shares ended the day down 44 cents, or 1.6%, to $26.45. The stock was trading up modestly in recent after-hours action, to $26.50.