Seagate Technologies (NASDAQ: STX) reported their financial results for the quarter ending September 29th, 2017. Seagate is largely known for manufacturing HDDs and external hard drives, a sector that has seen a decline over the last few years in part due to decreased pricing and availability of SSDs. Flash-based memory prices are high right now, but are overall significantly lower than when the technology was being introduced to the mainstream market.
For Q1 2018, Seagate reported revenue of $2.6 Billion, gross margin was reported at 28.0%, and net income was listed at $181 Million with diluted earnings per share of $0.62. For reference, last year’s financial results in Q1 2017, Seagate showed revenue of $2.8 Billion, gross margin of 28.6%, net income of $167 Million, and diluted earnings per share of $0.55.
During Q1 2018, Seagate reportedly generated $237 Million in cash flow from operations and returned approximately $350 Million to shareholders in dividends and share repurchases.
Dave Mosley, Seagate’s CEO, had this to say about the company’s latest quarter performance: “The results of our performance this quarter reflect solid execution and market demand for our storage product portfolio. Seagate delivered record levels of exabyte shipments and generated sequential growth in revenue and profit. As the demand for storage continues to benefit from the proliferation of data, Seagate is in a strong position to grow its businesses, improve profitability and continue with its shareholder return objectives.”
Seagate’s year-over-year revenue continues to decline as their main product offering (HDDs) become more obsolete. While hard disk drive technology will not be phased out anytime in the foreseeable future, over time they will continue to decline in sales and manufacturers will have to learn to adapt if they hope to stay relevant.
Source: Seagate Q1FY18 Financial Statements
Editorial: Ryan Greenberg