Western Digital posts positive fiscal Q1 earnings; 62.5 million units shipped

Western Digital continues to bounce back following the flooding in Thailand last year that has derailed the hard disk drive industry since then with another positive quarter.
The storage provider reported first fiscal quarter earnings of $519 million, or $2.06 a share (statement). Non-GAAP earnings were $2.36 a share on a revenue of $4.0 billion.
Wall Street was expecting Western Digital to report first quarter earnings of $2.29 a share on revenue of $3.98 billion.

For reference, non-GAAP net income this quarter was $594 million -- a significant increase when you compare it to $260 million, or $1.10 per share, during the same quarter last year.

CEO John Coyne commented in prepared remarks:

We are pleased to deliver another quarter of strong financial performance, continuing our track record of consistent execution. While the macroeconomic environment is dampening near term demand, we remain confident in the continued long-term growth in the creation, storage and management of digital content. Western Digital has never been better positioned to address this opportunity, with great people, deep technology, a broad product portfolio and strong customer and supplier relationships.

The last three months have been busy for the hard drive giant.

For starters, Coyne announced he is retiring. He will be replaced by Steve Milligan, currently president of the company, effective January 2, 2013.

Additionally, market intelligence firm IHS iSuppli reported in September that Western Digital retook the lead from Seagate in the global hard drive market as of the second calendar quarter of 2012.

Key points:

• 62.5 million hard drive units shipped during the September quarter
• $936 million generated in cash from operations in fiscal Q1, ending with total cash and cash equivalents of $3.5 billion