Upcoming AWS Coverage on Western Digital Post-Earnings Results

LONDON, UK / ACCESSWIRE / May 3, 2017 / Active Wall St. announces its post-earnings coverage on Seagate Technology PLC (NASDAQ: STX) ("Seagate"). The Company disclosed its third quarter fiscal 2017 results on April 26, 2017. The data storage Company surpassed earnings expectations. Register with us now for your free membership at:

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One of Seagate Technology's competitors within the Data Storage Devices space, Western Digital Corp. (NASDAQ: WDC), released its financial results for the third fiscal quarter ended March 31, 2017, after the close of the market on Thursday, April 27, 2017. AWS will be initiating a research report on Western Digital in the coming days.

Today, AWS is promoting its earnings coverage on STX; touching on WDC. Get our free coverage by signing up to

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Earnings Reviewed

For the three months ended March 31, 2017, Seagate reported revenue of $2.67 billion compared to revenue of $2.60 billion for Q3 FY16. The Company's revenue numbers fell short of analysts' consensus of $2.71 billion.

For Q3 FY17, Seagate's gross margin was 30.5%, while on a non-GAAP basis, which excludes the net impact of certain items, the Company reported gross margin of 31.4% for the reported quarter, up 870 basis points on a y-o-y basis.

During Q3 FY17, Seagate's HDD exabyte shipments were 65.5 exabytes, up approximately 18% on a y-o-y basis. The Company's HDD enterprise revenues were up 3% y-o-y, reflecting exabyte growth of 20% y-o-y and representing 36% of its total consolidated revenue. Seagate's Cloud Systems and Silicon Group demonstrated 19% y-o-y growth in Q3 FY17 with particular strength in its Flash-based solutions.

Seagate's average capacity per drive across the HDD portfolio was approximately 1.8 terabytes per drive in Q3 FY17, up 27% compared to the year ago same period. The average selling price of $67 was sequentially flat for the reported quarter and up 10% on a y-o-y basis.

Seagate posted Q3 FY17 net income of $194 million, after reporting a loss of $21 million in Q3 FY16. On a per-share basis, the Dublin-based Company earned $0.65 compared to loss of $0.07 in the year ago comparable period. Seagate's earnings, adjusted for non-recurring costs and restructuring costs, came in at $1.10 per share. The Company's earnings result surpassed Wall Street's expectations of $1.06 per share.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow

During Q3 FY17, Seagate's cash flow from operations was $426 million, and free cash flow was $331 million. These results include approximately $150 million in cash payments related to restructuring charges and biannual nonexecutive variable compensation. Excluding these items, cash flow from operations would have been approximately $576 million. As of March 31, 2017, the Company's cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments totaled approximately $3.0 billion. Long-term debt was $5.07 billion at the end of Q3 FY17.

During Q3 FY17, Seagate successfully completed a debt offering of $1.25 billion of investment grade financing with weighted average interest rate of less than 5%. This funding will serve as a pre-financing of the Company's 2018 and 2021 notes and other corporate purposes. Seagate has called its 2021 7% senior notes with a payment of $158 million scheduled for May 01, 2017.

Dividend Declarations

Seagate's Board of Directors has approved a quarterly cash dividend of $0.63 per share, which will be payable on July 05, 2017, to shareholders of record as of the close of business on June 21, 2017.

Stock Performance

On Tuesday, May 02, 2017, the stock closed the trading session at $42.44, slightly up 0.62% from its previous closing price of $42.18. A total volume of 6.43 million shares have exchanged hands, which was higher than the 3-month average volume of 4.91 million shares. Seagate Technology's stock price surged 28.03% in the past six months, and 124.31% in the previous twelve months. . Furthermore, since the start of the year, shares of the Company have gained 12.70%. The stock is trading at a PE ratio of 17.42 and has a dividend yield of 5.94%.

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SOURCE: Active Wall Street