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Technology Stocks : Western Digital (WDC) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Pierre Aydin who wrote (10287)	4/21/1999 4:38:00 PM
From: AC Flyer	Respond to of 11057

Thank you. Only lost 68 cents per share. What a relief!

To: Pierre Aydin who wrote (10287)	4/21/1999 4:43:00 PM
From: Whys1	Respond to of 11057

Here are some comments accompanying the "earnings" report: Commenting on the March quarter results, Chuck Haggerty, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Western Digital stated: "Despite aggressive pricing and a mid-quarter slump in demand, we were able to achieve the bottom-line operating forecast because of our improving product mix, increased efficiencies, and cost reductions. The improvements in our desktop products were noteworthy as gross margins in this business reached their highest levels since September 1997. "We completed a number of steps in the last four months that will be critical to further operational and financial improvements and to the long-term positioning of the Company. To lower costs and increase efficiencies, we completed the combination of two manufacturing facilities in Singapore, consolidated two drive business groups, and sold our media operation to Komag. We shipped our first desktop drives with GMR head and 7200 RPM technologies based on our agreement with IBM; we acquired Crag Technologies to enter the storage systems business; and we completed the first phase of our agreement with Sony Corporation to develop an audio-video hard drive for the consumer market. "We were successful in ramping production of our 4.3GB per platter WD Caviar desktop family -- featuring the Ultra ATA66 interface and Data Lifeguard technology -- to more than 70% of unit shipments in the quarter with all of our major PC OEM, channel and retail partners taking shipments. We remain focused on significant opportunities in the Enterprise drive business with our 9 and 18GB low profile drives and our recently announced 10,000 RPM product."