Seagate Technology plc (NASDAQ: STX) (the "Company" or "Seagate") today reported financial results for its fiscal first quarter ended October 2, 2020. "Seagate delivered solid September quarter results supported by strong recovery in the video and image applications market and healthy cloud data center demand, which drove double digit year-over-year revenue growth for our mass capacity storage solutions. We see indications for Enterprise demand to improve and we expect this to continue as the broader markets gradually recover, supporting our positive December quarter outlook and reinforcing our revenue expectations for the fiscal year," said Dave Mosley, Seagate's chief executive officer.

"Demand for data continues to explode, even through this current period of market uncertainty. As a leader in mass data management, Seagate is executing a technology roadmap focused on helping customers put their valuable data to work. We are on track to ship our first HAMR drives for revenue in December, which is an important industry milestone to support the growing need for mass capacity storage. We also have introduced CORTX, an open-source, object-storage software, along with Lyve Rack that together offer enterprises a simple, secure and efficient way to manage massive volumes of data. These developments illustrate our confidence in identifying and capturing future growth opportunities, and we are further underscoring the confidence in our strategy and long-term cash generation abilities with a 3% increase in our quarterly dividend and a $3 billion increase to our existing share repurchase authorization."The Company generated $297 million in cash flow from operations and $186 million in free cash flow during the fiscal first quarter 2021. Seagate maintained a healthy balance sheet and during the fiscal first quarter 2021, the Company paid cash dividends of $167 million and repurchased 1.5 million ordinary shares for $68 million. Cash and cash equivalents totaled $1.7 billion at the end of the quarter. There were 258 million ordinary shares issued and outstanding as of the end of the quarter.

All periods presented exclude share-based compensation from non-GAAP results. For a detailed reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP results, see accompanying financial tables.

Seagate has issued a Supplemental Financial Information document, which is available on Seagate's Investor Relations website at investors.seagate.com.

Quarterly Cash Dividend
The Board of Directors of the Company (the "Board") declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.67 per share, which will be payable on January 6, 2021 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on December 23, 2020. The payment of any future quarterly dividends will be at the discretion of the Board and will be dependent upon Seagate's financial position, results of operations, available cash, cash flow, capital requirements, distributable reserves, and other factors deemed relevant by the Board.

Business Outlook
The business outlook for the fiscal second quarter 2021 is based on our current assumptions and expectations; actual results may differ materially, as a result of, among other things, the important factors discussed in the Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements section of this release.

The Company is providing the following guidance for its fiscal second quarter 2021:

• Revenue of $2.55 billion, plus or minus $200 million
• Non-GAAP diluted EPS of $1.10, plus or minus $0.15

Guidance regarding non-GAAP diluted EPS excludes known charges related to amortization of acquired intangible assets of $0.01 per share, estimated share-based compensation expenses of $0.12 per share and restructuring costs of $0.01 per share.

We have not reconciled our non-GAAP diluted EPS guidance for fiscal second quarter 2021 to the most directly comparable GAAP measure because material items that may impact these measures are out of our control and/or cannot be reasonably predicted, including, but not limited to, accelerated depreciation, impairment and other charges related to cost saving efforts, restructuring charges, strategic investment losses or impairment recognized, income tax adjustments on these measures, and other charges or benefits that may arise. The amounts of these measures are not currently available, but may be material to future results. A reconciliation of the non-GAAP diluted EPS guidance for fiscal second quarter 2021 to the corresponding GAAP measures is not available without unreasonable effort. A reconciliation of our historical non-GAAP financial measures to their nearest GAAP equivalent is contained in this release.