Vianen, Oct. 21, 2003 - StorageTek® (Storage Technology Corp., NYSE:STK) today announced third quarter 2003 net income of $31.0 million, or $0.28 diluted earnings per share. These amounts compare to net income of $23.9 million, or $0.22 diluted earnings per share, for the third quarter of 2002. Revenue for the third quarter of 2003 was $520.3 million compared to $501.7 million for the third quarter of 2002.
Net income for the first nine months of 2003 was $77.6 million, or $0.70 diluted earnings per share, compared to $49.0 million, or $0.46 diluted earnings per share, for the first nine months of 2002. Revenue for the first nine months of 2003 was $1.53 billion compared to $1.45 billion for the first nine months of 2002.
"StorageTek’s Information Lifecycle Management™ strategy is resonating well with customers," said Patrick J. Martin, StorageTek chairman, president and chief executive officer. "Our success this quarter was in disk solutions, storage services and especially in open-system automated tape solutions. StorageTek is a total solutions provider and our customers look to us as a key player for help in successfully managing their data in the most efficient and effective manner.
"StorageTek’s approach of Information Lifecycle Management™ helps our customers effectively and efficiently manage one of their most costly and poorly utilized assets ? primary disk. By moving rarely accessed data and multiple copies of data off primary disk to our open disk, our ATA disk systems and our libraries, we free up disk capacity for use in supporting the customers’ growth in data. Whether it is in disaster recovery, archival storage or overall storage management, StorageTek helps customers save more time, money and resources," said Martin.
Revenue from disk solutions grew 14 percent for the quarter and 33 percent year-to-date over the same periods in 2002. Storage services revenue was up 7 percent for the quarter and 11 percent year-to-date over 2002. "This continues to show that customers are looking to StorageTek for full storage solutions," said Martin.
Financial highlights for the quarter include an increase in cash and investments to $928 million and quarterly cash flow from operations of approximately $117 million. "All in all, the balance sheet continues to get stronger. We had another excellent quarter in generating cash and are closing in on a billion dollars in cash and investments. This provides us the financial strength and flexibility to further invest in technologies, solutions, and distribution capabilities," said Robert Kocol, StorageTek’s chief financial officer.
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 execute our Information Lifecycle Management™ strategy; 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; our ability to obtain quality parts and components in a timely manner; 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 that are easy to manage, integrate well with existing infrastructures and allow universal access to data across servers, media types and networks.
StorageTek provides practical and safe storage solutions in disk, networking, services, tape and tape automation. For more information, see www.storagetek.com.