Seagate Commits the Ultimate Earnings Season Crime and Plunges

Seagate (NASDAQ: STX  ) was down over 9% today. As Fool senior technology analyst Eric Bleeker describes in this video, it committed an act ruled unforgivable in today's earnings environment. That is, it guided weakly. Previously, we've seen Apple sell off on its own weak guidance and VMware see its own 20% plunge today based on guidance that was in line with what Seagate provided.

The problem, Eric thinks, is that all of these companies are seen as an inflection point in their growth story. With Seagate, investors are now nervous about whether the company can continue pushing back against pricing wars and weakening PC demand in a hard disk drive space that's been the subject of fierce battles in recent years.

While Seagate Technology pays a significant and growing dividend and seems able to generate the cash flow to support it, a global slowdown in demand for digital memory storage has begun to put pressure on margins. Is Seagate worthy of your investment consideration (and dollars)? The Motley Fool answers this question and more in our most in-depth Seagate research available for smart investors like you. Thousands have already claimed their own premium ticker coverage, and you can gain instant access to your own by clicking here now.