Seagate Technology earns high profit for its fiscal first quarter

The world's largest maker of hard drives, Seagate Technology, made a stronger-than-expected profit for its fiscal first quarter, as demand drove sales up 18 percent.

Photo: Seagate Technology earns high profit for its fiscal first quarter

Net income for the quarter ended Sept. 28 grew to $355 million (250.88 million EUR), or 64 cents per share, from $19 million (13.43 million EUR), or 3 cents per share, a year ago. Excluding about $30 million (21.2 million EUR) of amortization and other charges associated with the Maxtor and EVault acquisitions, the company earned 69 cents per share in the latest period.

Revenue climbed to $3.29 billion (2.33 billion EUR) from $2.79 billion (1.97 billion EUR) in the year-earlier quarter.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial were expecting a profit of 64 cents per share on revenue of $3.22 billion (2.28 billion EUR).

In August, Seagate raised its outlook for the first quarter, due to favorable supply and demand conditions and a better product mix, forecasting profit of 57 cents to 61 cents per share on revenue of $3.15 billion (2.23 billion EUR) to $3.25 billion (2.3 billion EUR).

The company reported disc drive unit shipments of 47 million in the quarter.