Western Digital Slashes Second-Quarter Loss

Disk-drive manufacturer Western Digital Corp., reaping the benefits of a solid performance in its hard-drive business, narrowed its losses significantly in the second fiscal quarter.

The Lake Forest company posted a loss of nearly $8.8 million, or 5 cents a share, for the three months ended Dec. 29, down from a loss of $91.5 million, or 76 cents a share, a year earlier. An extraordinary gain of $10.6 million related to bond redemptions pushed the company into the black in the recent quarter, with net income of $1.8 million, or 1 cent a share.

Overall revenue declined 5% to $530.7 million. The year-earlier revenues, $560.2 million, included nearly $43 million in sales from a product line that has been discontinued, the company noted.

The company’s hard-drive business showed an operating profit of $10.2 million, as Western shipped 5.8 million hard drives, up 14% from the desktop units shipped in the same quarter a year ago.

Western Digital disclosed the financial results after the close of regular trading in the U.S. markets. The stock closed at $4.81, off 38 cents a share, on the New York Stock Exchange.