Western Digital Corp. (WDC) Monday said its first-quarter profit more-than-doubled from a year ago, as revenues soared reflecting higher hard drive shipments and acquisition of Hitachi's hard drive unit. Western Digital's earnings and revenue for the quarter came in ahead of Wall Street expectations.
Shares of the hard drive maker had gained five percent just after the announcement of results, but is currently down over six percent in extended trading hours after Western Digital detailed a guidance below current market expectations in a conference call.
For the second quarter, Western Digital expects earnings of $1.65 to $1.85 per share and revenues of $3.55 billion to $3.70 billion. That is below analysts' current earnings estimate $2.44 per share and revenue expectation of $4.14 billion.
In a statement, Western Digital Chief Execuitve John Coyne said, "While the macroeconomic environment is dampening near term demand, we remain confident in the continued long-term growth in the creation, storage and management of digital content."
The company in the first quarter shipped 62.5 million hard-drives at an average selling price of $62. Last year it had shipped 57.8 million hard drives.
Revenue for the first quarter increased to $4.04 billion, from $2.69 billion last year. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters estimated revenues of $3.98 billion.
For the first quarter, net income improved to $519 million or $2.06 per share from $239 million or $1.01 per share last year.
Adjusted net income for the quarter rose to $594 million or $2.36 per share from $260 million or $1.10 per share last year. On average, analysts expected earnings of $2.30 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.
In March, Irvine, California-based Western Digital completed its acquisition of Viviti Technologies Ltd. (formerly Hitachi Global Storage Technologies) for $3.9 billion in cash and 25 million shares valued at about $0.9 billion.
WDC closed Monday's trading at $35.28, up $0.40 or 1.15%, on the NYSE. In after-hours, the stock lost $2.18 or 6.18%.
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