Seagate Posts Upbeat Q3 Earnings, But Sales Miss Expectations

Seagate Technology PLC (NASDAQ: STX) reported better-than-expected earnings for the fiscal third quarter, but the company's sales missed analysts' estimates.The Dublin, Ireland-based company posted quarterly net income of $291 million, or $0.88 per share, compared to $395 million, or $1.17 per share, in the year-ago period. Excluding items, the company's adjusted earnings came in at $1.08 per share.Its revenue slipped to $3.33 billion from $3.41 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $1.04 per share on revenue of $3.40 billion.Its gross margin came in at 28.7 percent during the quarter.During the third quarter, Seagate paid cash dividends of $176 million and repurchased around 12 million shares for $706 million.The company's board approved a quarterly cash dividend of $0.54 per share.The average estimate among 20 Estimize users was for earnings of $1.09 per share and revenue of $3.45 billion."In light of dynamic market conditions this quarter we are quite satisfied with our operational performance and ability to return value to shareholders," said Steve Luczo, Seagate's chairman and chief executive officer. "Near-term macro uncertainty is affecting certain areas of our addressable market however we remain optimistic that market demand for exabytes of storage will continue to increase over the long-term. Looking ahead, we are focused on aligning our storage technology portfolio effectively to capitalize on market growth opportunities, demonstrating operating profitability and returning value to shareholders."Seagate shares fell 0.82 percent to $55.50 in pre-market trading.