Disk drive maker Western Digital Corp. said Tuesday that its fourth-quarter profit fell 8 percent on lower revenue, but the results were well ahead of Wall Street estimates.
The company posted profit of $196 million, or 86 cents per share, for the quarter ended July 3, compared with profit of $213 million, or 94 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter. Revenue fell to $1.9 billion in the quarter from $2 billion in the year-ago period.
Discounting $23 million in one-time gains, the company posted profit of $173 million, or 76 cents per share, in the most recent quarter.
Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters expected Western Digital to post profit of 28 cents a share on revenue of $1.6 billion. The estimates typically exclude one-time gains.
The company said it shipped 40 million hard drives during the fourth quarter compared with 35.2 million hard drives in the year-ago period.
"In the June quarter, we responded promptly to capitalize on unexpected market upside in each of our served markets to produce financial results that significantly exceeded expectations, and included a return to our targeted gross margin and operating expense model parameters," John Coyne, president and CEO, said in a statement.
The results were released after the stock market closed. Western Digital's shares were up 36 cents, or 1.2 percent, to $31.17 in after-hours trading after falling 66 cents in regular-session dealings Tuesday, near its 52-week high of $31.59.
The shares have traded as low as $9.48 over the past year.
