Earnings Highlights

Seagate Technology PLC reported adjusted fourth‑quarter earnings of $5.71 per share on revenue of $3.6 billion, representing a 49% year‑over‑year increase from $2.4 billion in the comparable period. Wall Street consensus had projected $5.09 earnings per share and $3.5 billion revenue, so the results comfortably exceeded expectations. Non‑GAAP gross margin expanded to 52.7%, up from 37.9% a year earlier, driven by pricing power and strong demand from cloud data‑center hyperscalers and enterprise customers supporting AI and data‑intensive workloads.

Guidance

For the first quarter of fiscal 2027, Seagate issued guidance of $4.1 billion in revenue, plus or minus $100 million, and non‑GAAP diluted earnings per share of $7.30, plus or minus $0.20. These figures substantially outpace consensus forecasts of $3.8 billion revenue and $5.87 EPS, underscoring management’s confidence in continued demand acceleration.

Full‑Year 2026 Performance

During fiscal 2026, the company generated $12.2 billion in revenue and delivered non‑GAAP diluted earnings per share of $15.58. Operating cash flow reached a record $3.7 billion, while free cash flow was $3.1 billion. The strong cash generation enabled Seagate to retire $1.4 billion of total debt for the year, including $302 million in the fourth quarter, leaving $3.6 billion of debt on the balance sheet. Cash and cash equivalents stood at $1.7 billion at period end, and a quarterly dividend of $0.74 per share was declared.

Management Commentary

Chief Executive Officer Dave Mosley attributed the robust results and outlook to long‑term tailwinds from cloud storage growth and the industry’s move toward exabyte‑scale data. He highlighted Seagate’s proprietary Mozaic platform and the Heat‑Assisted Magnetic Recording (HAMR) roadmap as key technologies positioning the company to capture high‑margin demand as AI workloads drive global data generation.

Morgan Stanley analyst Erik Woodring noted that pricing was the primary driver of the better‑than‑expected revenue, margins, EPS, and free cash flow, and he expects further pricing upside and several quarters of accelerating revenue growth.

Market Reaction

Following the release, Seagate shares rose 2.9% in pre‑market trading, reflecting investor enthusiasm for the earnings beat and the aggressive forward guidance.