WD's factories in Thailand were hit hard by the floods in October, this disaster almost cut the company's HDD production in half. Seagate on the other hand managed to keep its production pretty stable, the company suffered from component shortages but enjoyed much higher profit margins than usual as HDD priced skyrocketed as a result of a shortfall in global HDD supply.
Seagate Technology plc (NASDAQ: STX) today reported financial results for the quarter ended December 30, 2011. The company shipped 47 million disk drives and reported revenue of $3.2 billion, gross margin of 31.6%, net income of $563 million and diluted earnings per share of $1.28. On a non-GAAP basis, which excludes the net impact of certain items, Seagate reported net income of $581 million and diluted earnings per share of $1.32 for the quarter ended December 30, 2011.

For the six months ended December 30, 2011, the company reported revenue of $6.0 billion, gross margin of 26.0%, net income of $703 million and diluted earnings per share of $1.61. On a non-GAAP basis, which excludes the net impact of certain items,Seagate reported net income of $727 million and diluted earnings per share of $1.67. Seagate returned $151 million to shareholders in the form of a dividend and repurchased $191 million of Seagate ordinary shares which equates to approximately 13 million ordinary shares.

For a detailed reconciliation of non-GAAP to GAAP results, see accompanying financial tables.

Acquisition of Samsung's Hard Disk Drive Assets
Seagate announced on December 19, 2011 the closing of the acquisition of the hard disk drive business of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. Related to this transaction, amortization of acquisition-related intangibles of $5 million (non-cash expense) is included in the GAAP basis net income for the fiscal second quarter and six months ended December 30, 2011. For Seagate's third fiscal quarter, which ends on March 30, 2012, it is expected that amortization of acquisition-related intangibles will be approximately $35 million.