Seagate Technology Reports Fiscal Fourth Quarter And Fiscal Year 2018 Financial Results

Fiscal year 2018:

- Revenues up 4% year-over-year

- Diluted Earnings per Share up 57% year-over-year

- Cash Flow from Operations up 10% year-over-year

- Exabyte shipments up 29% year-over-year

CUPERTINO, CA – July 30, 2018 – Seagate Technology plc (NASDAQ: STX) (the “Company” or “Seagate”) today reported financial results for the quarter and fiscal year ended June 29, 2018. For the fourth quarter, the Company reported revenue of $2.8 billion, gross margin of 31.9%, net income of $461 million and diluted earnings per share of $1.57. On a non-GAAP basis, which excludes the net impact of certain items, Seagate reported gross margin of 32.4%, net income of $475 million and diluted earnings per share of $1.62.

During the fourth quarter, the Company generated $468 million in cash flow from operations and $372 million in free cash flow.

For the fiscal year ended June 29, 2018, the Company reported revenue of $11.2 billion, gross margin of 30.1%, net income of $1.2 billion and diluted earnings per share of $4.05. On a non-GAAP basis, Seagate reported gross margin of 30.7%, net income of $1.6 billion and diluted earnings per share of $5.51.

In fiscal year 2018, the Company generated approximately $2.1 billion in cash flow from operations and $1.7 billion in free cash flow, paid cash dividends of $726 million and repurchased 10 million ordinary shares for $361 million. Seagate's balance sheet remains healthy and during the fiscal year the Company repurchased $214 million of outstanding debt and invested approximately $1.3 billion, as part of a consortium led by Bain Capital Private Equity, in the acquisition of Toshiba Memory Corporation. Cash and cash equivalents totaled approximately $1.9 billion at the end of the fiscal year. There were 287 million ordinary shares issued and outstanding as of the end of the fiscal year.

“We achieved our third consecutive quarter of year-over-year revenue growth and exceeded our financial performance expectations for both the June quarter and this fiscal year. Seagate's year-over-year revenue and profitability growth results for fiscal year 2018 reflect solid execution and strong demand for our mass storage products. Looking ahead, we are confident that storage infrastructure demand will continue to grow with the Data Age digital transformations being fueled by new technologies, emerging industries and growing businesses. We believe Seagate has expanding opportunities to support the marketplace in these transformations and that we have the vision, products, technology and operational experience to ensure our long-term success and grow shareholder value,” said Dave Mosley, Seagate’s chief executive officer.

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 Investors Relations website at www.seagate.com/investors.

Quarterly Cash Dividend

The Board of Directors of the Company (the “Board”) has approved a quarterly cash dividend of $0.63 per share, which will be payable on October 3, 2018 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on September 19, 2018. 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.

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 www.seagate.com/investors. During today’s webcast, the Company will provide an outlook for its first fiscal quarter of 2019, including key underlying assumptions.

An archived audio webcast of this event will be available on Seagate’s Investors Relations website at www.seagate.com/investors 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 projections, expectations regarding market demand and the Company’s products, 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 and shareholder value and dividend issuance plans for the fiscal quarter ending September 28, 2018 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. These forward-looking statements are based on information available to the Company as of the date of this report and are based on management’s current views and assumptions. These forward-looking statements are conditioned upon and also involve a number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could cause actual results, performance or events to differ materially from those anticipated by these forward-looking statements. Such risks, uncertainties, and other factors may be beyond the Company’s control and may pose a risk to the Company’s operating and financial condition. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: items that may be identified during its financial statement closing process that cause adjustments to the estimates included in this report; the uncertainty in global economic conditions; the impact of the variable demand and adverse pricing environment for disk drives; the Company’s ability to successfully qualify, manufacture and sell its disk drive products in increasing volumes on a cost-effective basis and with acceptable quality; the impact of competitive product announcements; the Company’s ability to achieve projected cost savings in connection with restructuring plans; possible excess industry supply with respect to particular disk drive products; disruptions to its supply chain or production capabilities; unexpected advances in competing technologies or changes in market trends; the development and introduction of products based on new technologies and expansion into new data storage markets; the Company’s ability to comply with certain covenants in its credit facilities with respect to financial ratios and financial condition tests; currency fluctuations that may impact the Company’s margins and international sales; cyber-attacks or other data breaches that disrupt the Company’s operations or result in the dissemination of proprietary or confidential information and cause reputational harm; and fluctuations in interest rates. Information concerning risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause results to differ materially from the expectations described in this press release is contained in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) on August 4, 2017, the “Risk Factors” section of which is incorporated into this press release by reference, and other documents filed with or furnished to the SEC and the risks described in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K, which will be filed with the SEC following the issuance of this press release within the time period required by the SEC rules and form. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing the Company’s views as of any subsequent date and the Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date they were made, except as required by applicable law.

The inclusion of Seagate’s website address in this press release is intended to be an inactive textual reference only and not an active hyperlink. The information contained in, or that can be accessed through, Seagate’s website and social media channels are not part of this press release.

Please click here to view the financial statements Q4 FY2018 Financial Statements.