A little news...
For subscribers, the whole story is at:
interactive.wsj.com
...
For more than a year, the major U.S. disk-drive companies were hurt by too-abundant inventory and intense competition, factors that led to thin prices and profits. Investors tended to shun market leaders Seagate Technology Inc., Western Digital Corp. and Quantum Corp. for most of last year.
But the companies appeared more confident in the fourth quarter, particularly Western Digital, whose chief executive said in early December that demand was picking up for his firm's disk drives. Since then, shares of disk drive makers and component suppliers, like Read-Rite Corp. and Hutchinson Technology Inc., have soared.
Kimberly Alexy, an analyst at Prudential Securities Inc., said she thinks disk-drive companies are poised to post earnings above Wall Street's expectations in the next few weeks.
"We're expecting favorable earnings surprises for pretty much every company in the group," Ms. Alexy said. But she doesn't think the industry has made a "sustained turn" toward resumed growth.
...
Western Digital, the only one of the four publicly traded U.S. disk-drive companies thought to have posted a loss in the quarter, has the opportunity to deliver the biggest earnings surprise, Prudential Securities' Ms. Alexy said.
Ms. Alexy estimates that Western Digital lost $1.06 a share in the quarter, compared with earnings of 3 cents a share in the period a year ago, excluding charges.
Western Digital is anticipating better results after it introduces new disk drives featuring IBM technology. The company is expected to introduce the new drives early this year.
|
