Seagate Technology Q4 Profit Plunges, To Repurchase Up To $2.5 Bln Shares

(RTTNews) - Harddisk drive maker Seagate Technology plc (STX) Wednesday reported a sharp decline in its fourth-quarter profit, reflecting a fall in revenues. The board has authorized the company to repurchase up to $2.5 billion of its outstanding ordinary shares.

The shares are currently down more than 6 percent in the morning trade.

In the fourth quarter, net income attributable to the company fell to $348 million or $0.94 per share from $1.01 billion or $2.37 per share in the previous year. On an adjusted basis, earnings for the recent quarter were $1.20 per share.

On average, 24 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to earn $1.19 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Revenues for the quarter fell to $3.43 billion from $4.48 billion in the prior-year quarter. Twenty two analysts had consensus revenue estimate of $3.42 billion for the quarter.

Total operating expenses dropped to $2.98 billion from $3.43 billion in the preceding year.

The board has approved a quarterly cash dividend of $0.38 per share, to shareholders of record on August 7, 2013, payable on August 21.

The board has also authorized the company to repurchase up to $2.5 billion of its outstanding ordinary shares. Seagate currently has a total authorized unutilized capacity for repurchases of about $3.3 billion.

Steve Luczo, chairman, president and chief executive officer of the company said, "Looking ahead, we believe the market trends of data growth driven by cloud, mobile and open source advancement will present new and significant opportunities for Seagate."

STX is currently trading at $41.66, down $3.65 or 8.06 percent, on a volume of 3.44 million shares.