June 2007 -- Western Digital's net income in the quarter ended March 30, 2007, rose to $121 million, or 53 cents per share, from $102 million, or 45 cents per share, a year ago.
The company said its most recent quarter results included a $13 million recovery related to a receivable previously deemed uncollectible.
Despite seasonally soft demand and pricing in the March quarter, revenue rose to $1.41 billion from $1.13 billion a year ago. According to CEO Arif Shakeel, this growth validates Western Digital's new market penetration strategies. "Several years ago we identified expansion into new markets as a major long-term goal of the company," he said in an April 26 conference call with investors. "We aimed to accomplish this off the base of a highly-successful desktop hard drive business, (and) our Q1 results reflect the ongoing success of this effort. Our investments and focus in branded retail products have resulted in a steadily growing Western Digital retail brand presence, accounting for 11% of our revenue in Q1, the highest level since we began tracking this business in 2002."
