Seagate Technology plc (NASDAQ: STX) (the “Company” or “Seagate”) today reported financial results for the first quarter of fiscal year 2017 ended September 30, 2016. For the first quarter, the Company reported revenue of $2.8 billion, gross margin of 28.6%, net income of $167 million and diluted earnings per share of $0.55. On a non-GAAP basis, which excludes the net impact of certain items, Seagate reported gross margin of 29.5%, net income of $299 million and diluted earnings per share of $0.99.
During the first quarter, the Company generated $592 million in operating cash flow and repurchased 3 million ordinary shares for $101 million. Cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments totaled approximately $1.5 billion at the end of the quarter. There were 299 million ordinary shares issued and outstanding as of the end of the quarter.
“In response to strong cloud storage customer demand, Seagate delivered record levels of exabyte shipments, and generated strong revenues, margin and cash flow in the September quarter. In addition, as a result of our operating expense management, the company’s non-GAAP earnings per share increased by 85% year over year,” said Steve Luczo, Seagate’s chairman and chief executive officer. “As the demand for HDD storage continues to benefit from the shift to data driven cloud based architectures, Seagate is in a strong position to grow its businesses, improve margins and continue with its dividend and buyback capital allocation objectives.”
For a detailed reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP results, see accompanying financial tables.
Seagate has issued a Supplemental Financial Information document, which is available on Seagate’s Investors website at www.seagate.com/investors.
Quarterly Cash Dividend
The Board of Directors of the Company (the “Board”) has approved a quarterly cash dividend of $0.63 per share, which will be payable on January 4, 2017 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on December 21, 2016. The payment of any future quarterly dividends will be at the discretion of the Board and will be dependent upon Seagate’s financial position, results of operations, available cash, cash flow, capital requirements and other factors deemed relevant by the Board.
Investor Communications
Seagate management will hold a public webcast today at 6:00 a.m. Pacific Time that can be accessed on its Investor Relations website at www.seagate.com/investors. During today’s webcast, the Company will provide an outlook for its second fiscal quarter of 2017, including key underlying assumptions.
An archived audio webcast of this event will be available shortly following the event conclusion.
About Seagate
To learn more about the Company’s products and services, visit www.seagate.com and follow us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Spiceworks, YouTube and subscribe to our blog. The contents of our website and social media channels are not a part of this release.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, each as amended, including, in particular, statements about the Company’s plans, strategies and prospects, estimates of industry growth, and dividend and share repurchase plans for the fiscal quarter ending December 30, 2016 and beyond. These statements identify prospective information and may include words such as “expects,” “intends,” “plans,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “predicts,” “projects,” “should” and similar expressions. These forward-looking statements are based on information available to the Company as of the date of this report and are based on management’s current views and assumptions. These forward-looking statements are conditioned upon and also involve a number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could cause actual results, performance or events to differ materially from those anticipated by these forward-looking statements. Such risks, uncertainties, and other factors may be beyond the Company’s control and may pose a risk to the Company’s operating and financial condition. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: items that may be identified duringits financial statement closing process that cause adjustments to the estimates included in this report; the uncertainty in global economic conditions; the impact of the variable demand and adverse pricing environment for disk drives, particularly in view of current business and economic conditions; the Company’s ability to successfully qualify, manufacture and sell its disk drive products in increasing volumes on a cost-effective basis and with acceptable quality, particularly the new disk drive products with lower cost structures; the impact of competitive product announcements; the Company’s ability to achieve projected cost savings in connection with restructuring plans; possible excess industry supply with respect to particular disk drive products; disruptions to its supply chain or production capabilities; unexpected advances in competing technologies; the development and introduction of products based on new technologies and expansion into new data storage markets; our ability to comply with certain covenants in our credit facilities with respect to financial ratios and financial condition tests; currency fluctuations that may impact the Company’s margins and international sales; cyber-attacks or other data breaches that disrupt its operations or results in the dissemination of proprietary or confidential information; and fluctuations in interest rates. Information concerning risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause results to differ materially from the expectations described in this press release is contained in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on August 5, 2016, the “Risk Factors” section of which is incorporated into this press release by reference, and other documents filed with or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing the Company’s views as of any subsequent date and the Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date they were made.
The inclusion of Seagate’s website address in this press release is intended to be an inactive textual reference only and not an active hyperlink. The information contained in, or that can be accessed through, Seagate’s website and social media channels are not part of this press release.
For full financial results please visit Seagate's website www.seagate.com