Western Digital Posts Adj. Loss In Q1, Revenue Down 26%; To Form Two Independent Public Companies

(RTTNews) - Western Digital Corp. (WDC) reported a first quarter net loss to common shareholders of $700 million compared to profit of $27 million, last year. Loss per share was $2.17 compared to profit of $0.08. Adjusted loss per share was $1.76 compared to profit of $0.20. The company noted that the results included $225 million of underutilization-related charges in Flash and HDD. On average, 19 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report a loss per share of $1.91, for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

First quarter net revenue declined to $2.75 billion from $3.74 billion, previous year. Analysts on average had estimated $2.65 billion in revenue. Cloud represented 32% of total revenue, while Client represented 42% of total revenue.

David Goeckeler, Western Digital CEO, said: "Our Consumer and Client end markets continue to perform well and we now expect our Cloud end market to grow going forward."

The company expects second quarter revenue to be in the range of $2.85 billion to $3.05 billion. Non-GAAP loss per share is projected in the range of $1.35 to $1.05, which includes $110 to $130 million of underutilization-related charges in Flash and HDD.

Western Digital Corp. also announced its Board has unanimously approved a plan to separate its HDD and Flash businesses. The separation is planned to be structured in a tax-free manner and is targeted for the second half of calendar year 2024.

Shares of Western Digital are up 11% in pre-market trade on Monday.

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