CUPERTINO, Calif. (AP) ? Seagate Technology PLC on Monday said its shipment outlook for hard disk drive shipments in the quarter through December is at the low end of its previously forecast range due to the impact of flooding in Thailand, but its revenue outlook beat expectations and its shares rose.
Seagate said it expects to ship 43 million units with revenue of about $2.8 billion. In October, it said it expected to ship between 40 million and 50 million units and did not provide a revenue estimate.
The revenue outlook was better than the $2.68 billion expected by analysts polled by FactSet.
Shares rose $1.41, or 9 percent, to $17.40 in after-hours trading Monday, after closing up 83 cents, or 5.5 percent, at $15.99 in the regular session.
The company also said it expects revenue of at least $3.75 billion in the quarter ending in March, but that depends on its ability to close on its acquisition of the hard drive business of Samsung for $1.38 billion by the end of December. Analysts were looking for revenue of $3.25 billion.
Seagate said it believes the industry’s ability to make and ship hard disk drives will improve throughout 2012 and that demand will exceed supply, helping keep prices stable.
It said it could not estimate the acquisition-related costs of its deal with Samsung.
