Key facts
- Seagate Technology forecasts first-quarter revenue between $4.0 billion and $4.2 billion.
- The company expects first-quarter adjusted profit per share to be between $7.10 and $7.50.
- Seagate's strong performance is attributed to increased demand for its high-capacity hard disk drives driven by AI infrastructure development.
- Fourth-quarter revenue increased by 48.5% to $3.63 billion.
- Fourth-quarter adjusted profit per share was $5.71.
Seagate Technology forecast quarterly revenue and profit above estimates on Tuesday, driven by robust demand for its high-capacity hard disk drives fueled by the rapid buildout of AI infrastructure. The company's shares rose over 8% in extended trading.
Seagate expects first-quarter revenue to be $4.1 billion, plus or minus $100 million, surpassing analysts' average estimate of $3.75 billion. Adjusted profit is projected to be $7.30 per share, plus or minus 20 cents, exceeding the consensus expectation of $5.80 per share.
CEO Dave Mosley stated that the acceleration of data generation and its value due to AI is creating durable long-term demand for mass capacity storage. The company has leveraged its heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) technology to increase data density on disks without costly manufacturing expansions.
This outlook caps a strong year for Seagate, with surging demand for its HDDs from large cloud companies building storage infrastructure for generative AI applications, enabling price increases. In the fourth quarter, revenue rose 48.5% to $3.63 billion, beating estimates of $3.49 billion, and adjusted profit was $5.71 per share, compared to estimates of $5.09.