Seagate Says U4 Disk Drive Sales Beat Quarterly Volume Records
Hong Kong, June 4 (Bloomberg) -- Seagate Technology Inc., the No. 1 computer disk drive maker, said its new four-gigabyte disk drive is selling better than any other product made by the company, partly because of its low price.
Seagate sells its U4 disk drive at below $90, while analysts say rivals Quantum Corp., the No. 2 disk-drive maker, and Maxtor Corp. sell their disk drives for anywhere between $105 to $130. Seagate can sell its disk drive cheaper because it manufactures most of its own components, said Y.S. Chia, head of Hong Kong and China sales for Seagate.
Seagate's disk drive sales in the fourth quarter has beaten previous quarterly records, said Chia, who declined to reveal overall sales for the fourth quarter.
Sales so far this quarter for U4 are ''huge, the biggest in Seagate's history,'' he said.
Seagate, which will next month report sales for the quarter ending June 30, is expected by analysts to earn 51.1 cents per share, according to IBES International. The firm beat analysts' estimates for each of the past six quarters.
Seagate's success comes as competition remains tough among disk drive makers, which must slash prices as personal computer makers look for cheap components to put into computers they are retailing for less than $1000.
Industry observers expect the price on similar 4-gigabyte drives to weaken to $80 in the next quarter, Chia said.
Quantum this week warned that profit for the quarter ending June 27 will be half of what analysts expect because of steep price declines.
Seagate shares traded in the U.S. rose 3.4 percent to $32.50 in Thursday trade. The shares rose 7.4 percent so far this year, compared with a 5.7 percent gain for the benchmark S&P 500 Index. |
