Seagate Technology stock fell late Thursday and into Friday morning, despite reporting December quarter results that edged both the disk-drive maker’s guidance and Street consensus estimates.
For the fiscal second quarter, Seagate (ticker: STX) posted revenue of $2.62 billion, down from $2.7 billion a year ago, but above the company’s forecast of $2.55 billion, with non-GAAP earnings of $1.29 a share, above guidance at $1.10 a share. Street estimates were right in line with guidance.
On a non-GAAP basis, gross margin slipped to 26.8% from 28.7% a year ago, while operating margin fell a percentage point to 14.7%.
For the March quarter, the company sees revenue of $2.65 billion and non-GAAP earnings of $1.30 a share, a little ahead of the previous Street consensus forecast of $2.63 billion and $1.26 a share.
In a statement, Seagate CEO Dave Mosley said the company’s free cash flow growth was “supported by broad-based improvement across nearly every served market and geography, and we had solid customer demand for our mass capacity products.”
Seagate shares, which had rallied 2.5% to $62.94 in Thursday’s regular session, have fallen back 3.9% to $60.49, in premarket trading Friday. Shares of rival Western Digital (WDC) are also trading lower, down 3%, to $51.90.
Write to Eric J. Savitz at [email protected]
