Seagate Tech Ups Third-Quarter Forecast
biz.yahoo.com
Monday March 7, 6:28 pm ET
Seagate Technology Raises Third-Quarter Forecast Above Analyst Targets on Strong Product Demand
SCOTTS VALLEY, Calif. (AP) -- Seagate Technology, a maker of computer hard drives, on Monday forecast its third-quarter profit above Wall Street expectations, citing increased demand for its electronics and the addition of new product lines.
The company also raised its quarterly dividend 33 percent to 8 cents per share from a previous distribution of 6 cents.
Seagate now sees earnings of at least 36 cents per share and revenue of $1.87 billion for the three months ending April 1. In January, Seagate projected income of 29 cents to 33 cents per share, excluding charges, and sales of $1.84 billion to $1.87 billion.
That compares with the average estimate for earnings of 33 cents per share on $1.86 billion in sales from analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call. Last year, Seagate earned 7 cents per share on $1.39 billion in revenue.
"Industry demand this quarter clearly illustrates that disc-based storage has emerged as an enabling platform for the electronics industry beyond general computing," Bill Watkins, president and chief executive, said in a statement.
Seagate said it expects the total available market for enterprise, desktop and mobile computing disk drives will be in line with earlier estimates, but now predicts shipments of consumer electronics drives to match or come in slightly higher than the 13.5 million units shipped in the second quarter.
With the favorable impact of new products offsetting price declines, the average selling price across all products is expected to increased modestly from the prior period, Seagate said. |
