Seagate Technology stock fell late Tuesday, despite the data storage company posting fiscal first quarter earnings and sales that exceeded expectations. The disk-drive manufacturer's guidance for current quarter revenue was also in-line with projections from analysts.
Seagate said it earned an adjusted $1.58 per share on sales of $2.17 billion for the September-ended quarter. Analysts polled by FactSet projected Seagate would post adjusted earnings of $1.48 per share on sales of $2.13 billion.
"Seagate is off to an outstanding start to the fiscal year, highlighted by gross margin expanding to the highest level in more than a decade," said Seagate Chief Executive Dave Mosley in a news release.
For the same period a year earlier, the Fremont, Calif.-based Seagate posted an adjusted loss of 22 cents per share on sales of $1.45 billion.
For the current quarter, Seagate guided for sales of $2.3 billion at the midpoint of its range. That was in-line with what analysts were previously projecting Seagate would post for the December-ending quarter, according to FactSet.
On the stock market today, Seagate stock is down more than 2% at 110 in recent after-hours action.
Seagate Stock: Technical Ratings
Seagate is the world's largest manufacturer of hard disk drives. Seagate's stock struggled in 2022 and for the first half of last year, amid a hard drive supply glut and slowing demand from PC makers. Demand from datacenters and excitement about AI has helped the stock bounce back. Shares are ahead 35% this year and nearing an all-time high above 116 that Seagate reached near the start of 2022.
Prior to earnings, Seagate stock gained a fraction to close at 112.64 in regular Tuesday trading.
Coming into the report, Seagate stock had an IBD Composite Rating of 79 out of a best-possible 99, according to IBD Stock Checkup. The score combines five separate proprietary ratings into one rating. The best growth stocks have a Composite Rating of 90 or better.
Further, Seagate's Relative Strength Rating was 87 out of 99. The RS Rating means that Seagate has outperformed 87% of all stocks in IBD's database over the past year.
Before earnings, Seagate stock was trading within a 5% buy zone above a 110.93 cup-with-handle buy point, according to MarketSurge. The stock broke out from the pattern on Oct. 14.
