Western Digital Beats On Earnings, Offers Weak Guidance

declined in Wednesday's after-hours trading session by 1.92 percent. This was mostly driven by outlook that missed expectations. The company reported Non-GAAP EPS of $1.84 vs $1.73 analyst consensus estimate for FY Q4 2014. Western Digital beat Non-GAAP EPS by $.11. Western Digital reported a beat on top line results for FY Q4 2014; the company reported revenue of $3.75 billion, which was higher than the consensus revenue estimate of $3.7 billion for FY Q4 2014. Analyst consensus EPS estimate for Q1 FY 2015 was $2.06; Western Digital's EPS outlook for the same quarter was $1.95-$2.05. Currently the analyst consensus is at the very upper-end of Western Digital's guidance range, therefore earnings outlook disappointed. Western Dighital's revenue range of $3.8 to $3.9 billion for Q1 FY 2015 was in-line with analyst expectations of $3.84 billion. President and CEO Steve Milligan stated, “we achieved strong financial results in the June quarter, with better-than-anticipated revenue, healthy gross margin performance and continued strong cash flow generation, we did so by addressing continued robust demand in gaming and stronger-than-expected demand in notebook PCs.” The beat on earnings, but weak guidance resulted in the modest decline in the after-hours.