* Q2 EPS $0.96 vs est $0.58
* Q2 rev $2.48 bln vs est $2.35 bln
* Shares up 5 percent
(Recasts, adds analyst's comments)
By Supantha Mukherjee
Jan 18 (Reuters) - World's No. 2 hard-drive maker Western Digital Corp surprised investors with its market-topping results, indicating hard-drive sales remained robust despite concerns of tablets eating into PC sales.
The company's shares, which have been among the worst performers on the S&P 500 index in 2010, rose 5 percent to $35.60 in trading after the bell.
Western Digital, which competes with larger rival Seagate Technology, said hard-drive unit shipments in the quarter rose 5 percent to 52.2 million.
In October, the company had warned that tablets such as Apple's iPad -- which use flash memory rather than hard-drive storage -- would reduce growth in shipments of low-end laptops by 10-20 percent over the next few quarters.
Analysts said pricing was better than most estimates, significantly boosting gross margins and indicating that tablet sales had not begun to hurt hard-drive makers.
'The Street estimates for gross margins were about 16.2 percent, while the company posted 19 percent,' said Wedbush Securities analyst Kaushik Roy.
'It indicates that tablet cannibalization has not yet impacted them. The question is going forward what happens.'
Western Digital said net income for the October-December quarter fell to $225 million, or 96 cents per share, from $429 million, or $1.85 a share, in the year-ago period. The company's second quarter ended on Dec. 31.
Revenue fell 5.5 percent to $2.48 billion.
Analysts on average expected the company to earn 58 cents a share, excluding items, on revenue of $2.35 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Shares of rival Seagate, which is scheduled to report results on Jan. 19, rose about 3 percent in extended trade.
(Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee in Bangalore; Editing by Prem Udayabhanu) Keywords: WESTERNDIGITAL/ (supantha.mukherjee@thomsonreuters.com; within U.S.+1 646 223 8780; outside U.S. +91 80 4135 5800; Reuters messaging: supantha.mukherjee.reuters.com@reuters.net;) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
* Q2 rev $2.48 bln vs est $2.35 bln
* Shares up 5 percent
(Recasts, adds analyst's comments)
By Supantha Mukherjee
Jan 18 (Reuters) - World's No. 2 hard-drive maker Western Digital Corp surprised investors with its market-topping results, indicating hard-drive sales remained robust despite concerns of tablets eating into PC sales.
The company's shares, which have been among the worst performers on the S&P 500 index in 2010, rose 5 percent to $35.60 in trading after the bell.
Western Digital, which competes with larger rival Seagate Technology, said hard-drive unit shipments in the quarter rose 5 percent to 52.2 million.
In October, the company had warned that tablets such as Apple's iPad -- which use flash memory rather than hard-drive storage -- would reduce growth in shipments of low-end laptops by 10-20 percent over the next few quarters.
Analysts said pricing was better than most estimates, significantly boosting gross margins and indicating that tablet sales had not begun to hurt hard-drive makers.
'The Street estimates for gross margins were about 16.2 percent, while the company posted 19 percent,' said Wedbush Securities analyst Kaushik Roy.
'It indicates that tablet cannibalization has not yet impacted them. The question is going forward what happens.'
Western Digital said net income for the October-December quarter fell to $225 million, or 96 cents per share, from $429 million, or $1.85 a share, in the year-ago period. The company's second quarter ended on Dec. 31.
Revenue fell 5.5 percent to $2.48 billion.
Analysts on average expected the company to earn 58 cents a share, excluding items, on revenue of $2.35 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Shares of rival Seagate, which is scheduled to report results on Jan. 19, rose about 3 percent in extended trade.
(Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee in Bangalore; Editing by Prem Udayabhanu) Keywords: WESTERNDIGITAL/ (supantha.mukherjee@thomsonreuters.com; within U.S.+1 646 223 8780; outside U.S. +91 80 4135 5800; Reuters messaging: supantha.mukherjee.reuters.com@reuters.net;) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.