Western Digital tops Q4 expectations thanks to laptops, enterprise units
Western Digital reported much better-than-expected fiscal fourth quarter earnings after the bell on Wednesday.
Tech Earnings
The hardware company delivered a net income of $317 million, or $1.32 per share (statement).
Non-GAAP earnings were $1.85 per share on a revenue of $3.7 billion.
Wall Street was expecting $1.74 per share on a revenue of $3.59 billion.
For the fiscal year, Western Digital produced earnings of $8.10 per share with revenue of $15.1 billion.
In prepared remarks, CEO Stephen Milligan attributed the successes to "robust demand in gaming and stronger-than-expected demand in notebook PCs" as well as strength in the enterprise department.
Milligan continued:
Longer term, we remain excited about Western Digital's strong strategic position at the center of the storage ecosystem, which continues to expand, evolve and transform. The creation of digital data continues unabated and the strategic value of that content is increasing. With our deep insight and experience, we will continue to play a vital role in unlocking the value of data with innovative and industry-leading storage devices and solutions.
Looking closer at Q4 shipments, non-PC enterprise units declined a bit, both sequentially and annually. But enterprise SSD revenue increased to $113 million in Q4, up from $104 million at the end of the previous fiscal year.
For the first fiscal quarter, Wall Street expect Western Digital to return with $2.06 a share on a revenue of $3.84 billion.
Charts via Western Digital Investor Relations