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What: Shares of hard-drive maker STEC (Nasdaq: STEC) are getting crushed today, down by as much as 21%, after the company reported quarterly earnings last night.

So what: Third-quarter revenue spun up to $72.5 million, and earnings per share added up to $0.14. While the results beat the market's expectations of $70.7 million in sales and earnings of $0.10 per share, the company issued revenue guidance that came up way short.

Now what: Fourth-quarter revenue is expected in the range of $55 million to $57 million, well below the $72.6 million consensus, which may result in non-GAAP breakeven or a loss of $0.02. STEC attributed the slow adoption of solid-state drives, or SSDs, to the challenging environment, as current prices remain prohibitively expensive. There's no doubt that SSDs will displace spinning-disc hard drives and that the opportunities will be massive once the adoption is in full swing; the only question is how long it will take.

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Fool contributor Evan Niu holds no position in any company mentioned. Click here to see his holdings and a short bio. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.