LOUISVILLE, Colo., April 23, 2003 - StorageTek® (Storage Technology Corp., NYSE:STK) today announced first quarter 2003 net income of $16.5 million, or $0.15 diluted earnings per share. These amounts compare to net income of $6.0 million, or $0.06 diluted earnings per share, for the first quarter of 2002. Revenue for the first quarter of 2003 was $480.0 million compared to $455.9 million for the first quarter of 2002.
"Given the difficult external environment, we are very pleased to show revenue growth and eleven consecutive quarters of year-over-year earnings improvement," said Patrick J. Martin, StorageTek chairman, president and chief executive officer. "The strategy we have embarked upon is clearly taking hold. Our Information Lifecycle Management offerings enable customers to view storage solutions on a holistic, enterprise-wide basis, reflecting StorageTek’s aim to satisfy specific end-to-end storage solution needs." First quarter 2003 revenue for storage services grew 14% over the same period last year. "Our performance in our Service business continues to be one of our highlights," continued Martin. "We are uniquely positioned to offer customers the hardware, software and very importantly, the services necessary to assist customers to successfully manage their storage environment."
Financial highlights for the first quarter include an increased cash balance to $719 million and cash flow from operations of $63 million. "The disciplines we have embedded in our business model should enable future growth in revenue and earnings throughout the year," said Robert Kocol, StorageTek’s chief financial officer. "We are very much on track to delivering the financial results we anticipated as we entered 2003."
Certain statements, projections and forecasts contained herein regarding StorageTek's future performance and financial results, future products, and business plans constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "may," "will," "should," "expects," "plans," "anticipates," and "believes." There are a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause StorageTek's actual results to differ materially.
Some of these risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, StorageTek's ability to develop, manufacture and market new products and services successfully; the effect of product mix and distribution channel mix on our gross margins; our ability to continue to increase productivity; competitive pricing pressures; rapid technological changes in the markets in which we compete; our ability to attract and retain highly skilled employees; our ability to protect and develop intellectual property rights; our reliance on certain sole source suppliers; potential delivery delays from sub-contractors and increased lead time in ordering parts and components; general economic conditions in the United States and globally; and other risks described in StorageTek's Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, and Current Reports on Form 8-K that are filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and which are available on the SEC's website.
About StorageTek
StorageTek (NYSE:STK), a $2 billion worldwide company with headquarters in Louisville, Colo., delivers a broad range of storage solutions for digitized data. StorageTek solutions are easy to manage and allow universal access to data across servers, media types and storage networks. StorageTek is the innovator and global leader in virtual storage solutions for tape automation, disk storage systems and storage networking. Because of StorageTek, customers can manage and leverage their digital assets as their businesses grow and can maximize IT productivity to ensure enterprise-class business continuity. For more information, see http://www.storagetek.com