Technology

What Pushed Seagate Technology to a New High?

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Seagate Technology PLC (NASDAQ: STX) reported its fiscal second-quarter financial results before the markets opened on Monday. Overall, this was a relatively quiet quarter for the firm, but it still contributed to the tech sector rally.

The company said that it had $1.48 in earnings per share (EPS) and $2.91 billion in revenue, which compares with consensus estimates from Thomson Reuters of $1.35 in EPS on revenue of $2.86 billion. In the same period of last year, Seagate said it had EPS of $1.38 and $2.9 billion in revenue.

During this quarter, the firm noted tallied an $850 million in cash flow from operations and $773 million in free cash flow. Seagate noted a 30.4% gross margin for this quarter as well.

On the books, the firm had $2.56 billion in cash and cash equivalents at the end of the quarter, up from $2.54 billion at the end of the previous fiscal year in June 2017.

Excluding Monday’s move, Seagate was up about 31% year to date, outpacing the broader markets. Over the past 52 weeks, the stock was up only about 25%.

Dave Mosley, Seagate CEO, commented:

Achieving year-over-year revenue and profitability growth and significant cash flow generation in the December quarter reflects Seagate’s solid execution and competitiveness of our storage solutions portfolio, particularly in the cloud-based environments. With our leading storage technology platforms, manufacturing and supply-chain management capabilities, Seagate is in a strong position to support ever-increasing storage demand from diverse markets and applications. Looking ahead, we will continue to focus on operational excellence and accomplishing our financial and shareholder-return objectives.

Shares of Seagate hit a new 52-week high of $55.30 Monday morning. The consensus analyst price target is just $44.24, and the 52-week low is $30.60.

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