Seagate Reports Fiscal First Quarter 2020 Financial Results

-          Revenue of $2.58 billion

-          GAAP diluted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.74; non-GAAP diluted EPS of $1.03

-          Cash flow from operations of $456 million and free cash flow of $309 million

-          Repurchased 9.2 million shares for $450 million

-          Raised the quarterly cash dividend to $0.65 per share payable on January 8, 2020

CUPERTINO, CA – November 1, 2019 – Seagate Technology plc (NASDAQ: STX) (the “Company” or “Seagate”) today reported financial results for its fiscal first quarter ended October 4, 2019.

"Seagate had a solid start to the fiscal year; we grew revenue, expanded non-GAAP operating income, and increased non-GAAP EPS quarter-over-quarter reflecting our focus on optimizing profitability to drive free cash flow,” said Dave Mosley, Seagate’s chief executive officer.

"Exabyte shipments were near record levels in the first quarter driven by improving demand conditions for mass capacity storage. We are ramping shipments of our industry capacity leading 16-terabyte drives to support strong customer demand. We continue to gain momentum with these products, which deliver lower total cost of ownership to our customers. While business conditions remain challenging over the near-term amidst ongoing geopolitical uncertainties, our innovative technology roadmap makes us well positioned to capture current and future mass capacity storage demand while also driving long-term value for our shareholders.”

Quarterly Financial Results

The Company generated $456 million in cash flow from operations and $309 million in free cash flow during the fiscal first quarter 2020. Seagate has a healthy balance sheet and during the fiscal first quarter 2020, the Company paid cash dividends of $170 million and repurchased 9.2 million ordinary shares for $450 million. Cash and cash equivalents totaled $1.8 billion at the end of the quarter. The Company restructured debt, lowering annual interest expense and reducing total debt to $4.1 billion at the end of the quarter. There were 263 million ordinary shares issued and outstanding as of the end of the quarter.

All periods presented exclude share-based compensation from non-GAAP results. For a detailed reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP results, see accompanying financial tables.

Seagate has issued a Supplemental Financial Information document, which is available on Seagate’s Investor Relations website at investors.seagate.com.

Quarterly Cash Dividend

The Board of Directors of the Company (the “Board”) declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.65 per share, which will be payable on January 8, 2020 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on December 26, 2019. The payment of any future quarterly dividends will be at the discretion of the Board and will be dependent upon Seagate’s financial position, results of operations, available cash, cash flow, capital requirements and other factors deemed relevant by the Board.

Business Outlook

The business outlook for the fiscal second quarter 2020 is based on our current assumptions and expectations; actual results may differ materially, as a result of, among other things, the important factors discussed in the Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements section of this release.

The Company is providing the following guidance for its fiscal second quarter 2020:

• Revenue of $2.72 billion, plus or minus 5%
• Non-GAAP diluted EPS of $1.32, plus or minus 5%

Guidance regarding non-GAAP diluted EPS excludes known charges related to amortization of acquired intangible assets and estimated share-based compensation expenses of $0.05 per share and $0.11 per share, respectively.

We have not reconciled our non-GAAP diluted EPS to the most directly comparable GAAP measure because material items that may impact these measures are out of our control and/or cannot be reasonably predicted including, but not limited to, accelerated depreciation, impairment, and other charges related to cost saving efforts, restructuring charges, strategic investment losses or impairment recognized, income tax adjustments on these measures, and other charges or benefits that may arise. The amounts of these measures are not currently available, but may be material to future results. A reconciliation of the non-GAAP diluted EPS to the corresponding GAAP measures is not available without unreasonable effort. A reconciliation of our historical non-GAAP financial measures to their nearest GAAP equivalent is contained in this release.

Investor Communications

Seagate management will hold a public webcast today at 6:00 a.m. Pacific Time that can be accessed on its Investor Relations website at investors.seagate.com.

An archived audio webcast of this event will be available on Seagate’s Investor Relations website at investors.seagate.com shortly following the event conclusion.

About Seagate

To learn more about the Company’s products and services, visit www.seagate.com and follow us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Spiceworks, YouTube and subscribe to our blog. The contents of our website and social media channels are not a part of this release.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, each as amended, including, in particular, statements about the Company’s plans, strategies and prospects, financial outlook for future periods, including the fiscal second quarter 2020, expectations regarding the Company’s products, our ability to ramp production, storage industry trends and market demand, shifts in technology, the Company’s ability to meet market and industry expectations, and the effects of these future trends and expectations on the Company’s business as well as dividend issuance plans for the fiscal quarter ending January 3, 2020 and beyond. These statements identify prospective information and may include words such as “expects,” “intends,” “plans,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “predicts,” “projects,” “should,” “may,” “will,” or the negative of these words, variations of these words and comparable terminology. Information concerning risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause results to differ materially from the expectations described in this press release include, among others, those risks and uncertainties included under the captions “Risk Factors” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) on August 2, 2019, which is available on our investor relations website at investors.seagate.com. Additional information will also be set forth in our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended October 4, 2019.  Undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking statements in this press release, which are based on information available to us on, and which speak only as of, the date hereof. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date they were made, unless required by applicable law.

The inclusion of Seagate’s website addresses in this press release are intended to be inactive textual references only and not active hyperlinks. The information contained in, or that can be accessed through, Seagate’s websites and social media channels are not part of this press release.

Please click here to view the Q1 FY2020 Financial Statements.