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Technology Stocks : Seagate Technology -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: SDNA who wrote (4318)	12/10/1997 7:38:00 PM
From: Alan Casey	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 7841

This is on the CNNFN site SCOTTS VALLEY, Calif., (Reuters) - Makers of computer disk drives are hitting rough times as aggressive pricing in the industry slows sales. <Picture>Seagate Technology Inc., facing slowing disk drive sales, said on Wednesday it will close a plant in Clonmel, Ireland, lay off 1,400 people and take an unspecified restructuring charge. <Picture>"This is an action we regret having to take, but it is a necessary step in Seagate's effort to remain competitive," said Al Shugart, Seagate chairman and chief executive. <Picture>Seagate said it is closing the plant because of a glut of computer disk drives, falling prices and lower margins. <Picture>It will eliminate 300 temporary and 1,100 regular jobs as part of the closing. <Picture>Last month, Seagate, the largest maker of computer storage devices, warned Wall Street its fiscal second quarter would not meet analyst forecasts. The company also said it would "review" its worldwide operations and take actions that would result in "significant" restructuring charges. <Picture>Separately, Seagate (SEG) said it would delay the expansion of another plant in Springtown, Northern Ireland. The expanded portion of the plant, which makes wafers for recording heads, would not be opened for about six months, a company spokeswoman said. <Picture>In other news, Quantum Corp. (QNTM) said its third quarter results will be well below what the company reported in the prior quarter. <Picture>In a statement issued after the market had closed, Quantum said it expects to report fully diluted earnings per share of between 25 cents to 35 cents for the third quarter of fiscal 1998, excluding previously announced special charges. <Picture>According to First Call, analysts had expected the company to report a profit of about 60 cents a share for the third quarter, up from 36 cents a year ago. The disk maker attributed the decline to aggressive pricing in the distribution channel for desktop computer hard disk drives. <Picture>Although unit shipments of hard disk drives will likely be up from the prior quarter, revenue could be relatively flat with the $1.5 billion reported in the September quarter. <Picture: Link to top>