Seagate Declares Fiscal First Quarter 2020 Financial Results, Reports Revenue of $2.58 Billion

Seagate Technology plc 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.”
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.