Image source: Seagate.
Seagate Technology (STX) just reported results for the second quarter of fiscal year 2014, paired with a sheet of supplemental management commentary on the quarter.
Seagate shipped 52.2 exabytes of disk-based storage in the quarter, a 9% year-over-year surge. Revenue fell 3.8% to $3.5 billion, reflecting slightly lower unit prices. On the bottom line, adjusted earnings fell 4.3% to $1.32 per share.
Analysts were expecting non-GAAP earnings of $1.38 per share on roughly $3.6 billion in sales. Seagate missed both targets, and Seagate share prices dropped as much as 7.7% in after-hours trading.
Unit volumes fell 8% in the client computer segment, but rose 7% in the enterprise market and 11% in the so-called non-compute segment where you'll find hard drives designed for personal backup systems, external storage products, and digital media devices.
"We continue to strategically invest in our product portfolio and enhance our vertically integrated manufacturing capabilities to effectively capitalize on the cloud, mobile and open source storage trends that are being fueled by data growth," said Seagate CEO Steve Luczo.
He also underscored Seagate's strong cash flows and disciplined capital allocation strategy, which should allow Seagate to return at least 70% of operating cash flows to investors as dividends and buybacks in fiscal 2014.
