The Zhitong Finance App learned that Seagate Technology (STX.US) announced financial results for the first quarter of the 2027 fiscal year on Wednesday. According to the data, the company's revenue for the quarter reached US$4.233 billion, up 61% year on year; GAAP net profit was US$1,761 million, up about 221% from US$549 million in the same period last year; GAAP diluted earnings per share were US$7.59, or US$2.43 for the same period last year, up about 212% year on year.
Non-GAAP adjusted net profit reached $1,781 million, up about 205 percent from $583 million in the same period last year; adjusted earnings per share were $7.68, compared to $2.61 in the same period last year, up about 194% year over year.
In terms of profitability, Seagate's GAAP gross margin for the first fiscal quarter reached 57.3%, up 17.9 percentage points from 39.4% in the same period last year; non-GAAP adjusted gross margin was 57.8%, up from 40.1% in the same period last year.
At the same time, the company's GAAP operating profit reached US$2,064 million, up about 197% from US$694 million in the same period last year; GAAP operating margin increased sharply to 48.8% from 26.4% in the same period last year. The non-GAAP adjusted operating margin reached 50.7%, up 21.7 percentage points from 29.0% in the same period last year.
Seagate said that as the market demand environment continues to improve, the creation, storage and reuse of data is continuously driving the growth of storage demand, and the increased visibility of long-term customer needs also further supports the company's judgment on growth prospects in the next few years.
Seagate Chairman and CEO Dave Mosley said that the company once again achieved record profit performance and created the highest free cash flow in history in the quarter ending September, reflecting the continued increase in the company's profitability in the context of an improved demand environment.
Mosley pointed out that data creation, retention and reuse are continuing to drive growth in storage demand, and the visibility of long-term customer needs has further increased, strengthening the company's judgment that the industry has entered a multi-year growth stage.
On the technical side, Seagate will continue to rely on a product roadmap based on heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) technology to meet growing EB-level storage requirements by increasing storage density per unit area. At the same time, the company will continue to maintain supply discipline and implement pricing strategies based on product value to drive profit growth.
In terms of cash flow, Seagate's cash flow from operating activities reached US$1,690 million in the first fiscal quarter, up about 218% from US$532 million in the same period last year; free cash flow reached US$1,479 million, up about 246% from US$427 million in the same period last year, setting a record high in the company's history.
On the balance sheet side, Seagate paid back about 1.2 billion US dollars of debt in the first fiscal quarter, reducing the total debt to about 2.4 billion US dollars. After the quarter ended, the company further repaid the principal amount of debt of 750 million US dollars, reducing the total debt to about 1.6 billion US dollars. As of the end of the first fiscal quarter, the company held approximately US$1.3 billion in cash and cash equivalents.
In terms of shareholder returns, Seagate returned US$568 million to shareholders in the first fiscal quarter through share repurchases and dividends, of which US$400 million was spent on share repurchases and US$168 million on dividends. Additionally, the company announced a quarterly cash dividend increase of approximately 3% to $0.76 per share, and the new dividend will be paid to shareholders registered as of December 23, 2026 on January 7, 2027.
Looking ahead to the second quarter of fiscal year 2027, Seagate expects revenue to reach US$4.8 billion, fluctuating up and down US$100 million, or US$4.7 billion to US$4.9 billion; non-GAAP adjusted diluted earnings per share are expected to be US$9.20, or US$0.20, or US$9.40. According to the guideline median calculation, the company expects revenue for the second fiscal quarter to increase by about 13% month-on-month compared to the first fiscal quarter, and adjusted earnings per share will increase by about 20% month-on-month.
Seagate said that as customer demand for high-capacity data storage continues to expand, the company will continue to improve profitability and cash flow performance through HAMR technology upgrades, prudent supply management and pricing strategies.