Western Digital Corp (WDC) — Q4 2015 Earnings Call Transcript

Thank you, as we begin I would like to mention that we’ll be making forward-looking statements in our comments in response to your questions concerning, among others, our product and technology positioning, customer acceptance of our SaaS SSD products, our outlook for enterprise and SSD businesses, data growth and its drivers, enterprise storage and our ability to address this space. Our non-PC business in the PC market demand and our ability to respond to the demand changes. China's Ministry of Commerce matters, optimizing our business, anticipating contribution from our new businesses and our financial performance including our financial results, expectations for the September quarter and earnings expectations for the second half of fiscal 2016. These forward-looking statements are based on management’s current expectations and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially including those listed in our quarterly report on Form 10-Q filed with the SEC on May 12th, 2015. We undertake no obligation to update our forward-looking statements to reflect new information or events. In addition, references will be made during this call to non-GAAP financial measures. Reconciliations of the differences between the non-GAAP measures we provide during this call and the comparable GAAP financial measures are included in the quarterly fact sheet that we have posted on our Investor Relations section of our website. We ask that participants limit their comments to a single question and one follow-up question. I also want to note that copies of remarks of today’s commentary by our Chief Executive Officer and CFO will be available on the investor section of our website immediately following the conclusion of this call. I’ll now turn the call over to President and Chief Executive Officer, Steve Milligan.

Good afternoon and thank you for joining us. After my opening remarks, Olivier Leonetti will provide additional commentary on our June quarter performance and our outlook for the September quarter. Demand for our fourth fiscal quarter was lower than expected given a weak PC market. In that context, I am satisfied with our performance. We reported revenues of $3.2 billion, a non-GAAP gross margin of 29.8%, and diluted earnings per share of $1.51. Our storage shipments for the June quarter were 56 exabytes, up 2% year-over-year. Our results reflect strong product and technology positioning coupled with solid execution. Our enterprise SSD revenue more than doubled year-over-year to $244 million demonstrating the continued success and broadening customer acceptance of our leading SaaS SSD products. We expanded our footprint in the enterprise SSD space with the initial ramp of our new UltraStar PCIe NVMe offering. It has been qualified with several leading customers, and we expect revenue from this product to increase throughout fiscal 2016. We saw strong demand for our high-capacity helium and 15K RPM 2.5-inch performance hard drives. Revenue from our video surveillance hard drives continued its rapid growth as we expanded our lineup of these purpose-built solutions. And we continue to see positive market reaction to the value proposition of our new active archive system. Our view of persistent data growth remains intact, driven by mobility and the cloud. The outlook for the enterprise storage business remains healthy, and we believe we are well-positioned to address this growing market space. Regarding PC market demand, we believe it is prudent to remain cautious in the near term given the timing of the Windows 10 and Skylake launches. That being said, we are seeing early signs of market stabilization, leading us to believe that PC market demand could pick up towards the end of this calendar year. A more stable PC market demand environment, coupled with continued strength in our enterprise business, provides the opportunity for improving financial performance as we move through the fiscal year. In the meantime, we will continue to be disciplined in the management of our business while being ready to address unanticipated upside if it materializes. I would like to comment on the status of our discussions with China's Ministry of Commerce. Since our last earnings call, we believe we have made meaningful progress. We have met with MOFCOM several times to discuss their review process and a potential timetable for them to complete their work. We have submitted a comprehensive report on the current market, which we believe shows that the storage ecosystem has evolved significantly in the last three years and that lifting the hold separate restriction will enhance competition, increase innovation, and benefit customers. We have also met with several other stakeholders in China and shared our view on the benefits of lifting the hold separate. Based on our conversations with MOFCOM, we believe that they are working steadily on several fronts, and we are hopeful that they can conclude their evaluation of our application to lift the hold separate in the near future. Olivier will now provide a summary of our June quarter performance and our outlook.

Thank you, Steve. Our revenue for the June quarter was $3.2 billion. We shipped a total of 48.5 million hard drives at an average selling price of $60. Our non-GAAP gross margin was 29.8%, and operating expenses totaled $560 million. Tax expense for the June quarter was $27 million or 7% of non-GAAP pre-tax income. On a non-GAAP basis, net income was $356 million or $1.51 per share. In the June quarter, we generated $488 million in cash from operations and our free cash flow totaled $332 million. Our CapEx totaled $156 million, which is 5% of revenue. We repurchased 2 million shares for $198 million. We also declared a dividend in the amount of $0.50 per share. We closed the year-end with total cash and cash equivalents of $5 billion, of which approximately $700 million was held in the U.S. I will now provide our guidance for the September quarter. We expect revenue to be in the range of $3.2 billion to $3.3 billion. Excluding the amortization of intangibles, we expect gross margin percentage to be roughly flat with our June quarter, operating expenses of approximately $575 million, and accordingly, we estimate non-GAAP earnings per share between $1.50 and $1.60. Operator, we are now ready to attend the call for questions.

Thank you again for joining us today. In closing, I want to thank all of our employees and suppliers for their commitment and outstanding execution, and our customers for their continued business. Thank you so much.