Western Digital: Fiscal 4Q17 Financial Results - Twice more revenue than Seagate

Western Digital Corp. reported revenue of $4.8 billion, operating income of $652 million and net income of $280 million, or $0.93 per share, for its fourth fiscal quarter ended June 30, 2017.

The GAAP net income for the period includes charges associated with the company's recent acquisitions. Excluding these charges and after other non-GAAP adjustments, fourth quarter non-GAAP operating income was $1.2 billion and non-GAAP net income was $881 million, or $2.93 per share.

In the year-ago quarter, the company reported revenue of $3.5 billion, operating loss of $195 million and net loss of $366 million, or $(1.40) per share. Non-GAAP operating income in the year-ago quarter was $451 million and non-GAAP net income was $269 million, or $1.02 per share.

The company generated approximately $1.0 billion in cash from operations during the fourth fiscal quarter of 2017, ending with $6.5 billion of total cash, cash equivalents and available-for-sale securities. On May 3, 2017, the company declared a cash dividend of $0.50 per share of its common stock, which was paid to shareholders on July 17, 2017.

For fiscal 2017, the company achieved revenue of $19.1 billion, operating income of $2.0 billion and net income of $397 million, or $1.34 per share, compared to fiscal 2016 revenue of $13.0 billion, operating income of $466 million and net income of $242 million, or $1.00 per share. On a non-GAAP basis, fiscal 2017 operating income was $3.9 billion and net income was $2.7 billion, or $9.19 per share, compared to fiscal 2016 operating income of $1.7 billion and net income of $1.4 billion, or $5.79 per share. The company generated $3.4 billion in cash from operations during the 2017 fiscal year and it returned to shareholders $574 million in dividends.

In a worldwide decreasing HDD market, the firm sold 39.3 million devices, up 1% Q/Q - but we are far from the record of 64.7 million units in 1Q15 -, for a total of 81.2EB shipped corresponding to an increase of 9% quarterly.

Revenue for next quarter is expected to be to be approximately $5.1 billion, which would represent 8% Y/Y or 5% Q/Q growth.

Consumer NAS Market Worth $8.20 Billion by 2025

Globally growing demand for efficient backup systems, speedy data transfer, and cost-effective storage systems are some of the key drivers for the consumer NAS market. Home segment is one of the largest segment in 2016 and is expected to maintain a high growth rate over the forecast period. The deployment of NAS in SMBs is expected to drive the consumer NAS market.

The growth of consumer NAS market is primarily driven due to the low cost of product and easy installation, along with network sharing of data, which enhances the user's accessibility of data among the in-house or office network. Innovative solution offerings such as cloud backup offerings which can be integrated with the consumer NAS system further drives the demand for consumer NAS market. The increase in purchasing power of individuals due to growth in disposable income is expected to fuel the growth of the consumer NAS market. The modern-age population is becoming more tech savvy and acceptable toward technologically advanced products that promote. 
Furthermore, increase in the data such as movies, photos among the individuals which need to be stored are some of the major factors driving the growth of the consumer NAS market.

2-bay design are expected to observe the fastest growth over the next nine years. The home segment of consumer NAS devices will increase in USA and Europe, which is expected to boost the market demand over the forecast period.

Further key findings from the report suggest:

• The increasing need for storage, data management and data sharing is expected to drive the global market demand of consumer NAS market
• Business segment emerged as the largest end user segment in 2016 and is estimated to grow by CAGR of 15.4% by 2025
• Global consumer NAS demand of 4-bay design segment is expected to witness the largest growth over the years
• The 2-bay in design segment is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 16.9% by 2025
• The industry in AsiaPac is projected to witness substantial growth over the next decade owing to various developments across major economies. and the regional market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 18.8% from 2016 to 2025

Regional Insights
The presence of large technology companies and significant investments made in the R&D, are some of the major factors driving the growth of the market in the North American region. Currently, North America occupies a significant market share in the overall global market, which is followed by Europe due to the increasing awareness among individuals about the benefits offered by consumer NAS.

Increasing usage NAS by technology start-ups in USA would lead to a significant increase in the demand for the overall US market. Additionally, the region is one of the start-up hubs of the world and it is also expected to boost the market revenue significantly.
The AsiaPac regional market is anticipated to account for a comparatively higher CAGR, owing to the increasing awareness among users regarding the benefits offered by the technology. Growth in the standard of living and increasing disposable income are the driving factors for the growth of the market in this region.

Data Protection and Recovery Solution Market at $14.1 Billion by 2025

The global data protection and recovery solution market is expected to reach $14.1 billion by 2025. Market size was estimated at $4.70 billion in 2016 and is expected to gain momentum over the forecast period.

The growing adoption of cloud computing by organizations is leading to increased data management concerns. Data migration to the cloud is resulting in a rise in threats such as data loss, unauthorized data processing, and theft.

Increasing adoption of digital transformation is driving the demand for proficient information management, compliance, and governance. Data constitutes a critical part of digital transformation, therefore, making it even more important to ensure proper management and security.

The growing number of information-based organizations is leading to elevated utilization of business information to improve operational efficiency and innovate products and services, based on evolving customer demands and preferences. All the above mentioned factors are expected to propel the demand for data protection, backup, and recovery solutions.

The existing government regulations, such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), Government Paper Elimination Act (GPEA), and Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), are significantly encouraging organizations to implement policies related to data access and protection.

Various nations are planning to implement regulations and impose mandates to ensure data security across different industries. For instance, in 2016, the European Commission introduced the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which would be effective from May 2018. This is anticipated to strengthen and standardized data protection as the rule will compel organizations across Europe to be fully complaint by 2018, thus, boosting sales of security and storage devices across the region.

Further key findings from the report suggest:

• The email protection segment emerged as the dominant segment and was valued at $1,826.8 million in 2016, owing to the fact that a majority of critical data or information related to a business is stored in emails, which necessitates the use of backup and recovery solutions
• The SMEs segment is anticipated to emerge as the fastest-growing segment, owing to the increased emphasis laid by SMEs on digitalizing data and the need to protect it
• The healthcare end-use segment is expected to grow at a CAGR of 16.4% over the next eight years, owing to increasing use of Electronic Health Record (EHR) for maintaining patient information
• Cloud deployment is expected to foresee the highest growth with a CAGR of 15.1% from 2017 to 2025 as organizations are looking forward to improving the time to market, increasing efficiency of processes, and reducing overall costs
• North America accounted for a significant market share and was valued at $1,840.8 million in 2016 and $4.64 billion by 2025. However, the AsiaPac region is predicted to grow at highest CAGR of 18.6% from 2017 to 2025, owing to the accelerated adoption of hosted and managed services.