Seagate Technology this week announced selected preliminary financial results for its fiscal second quarter of 2013, which ended on December 28, 2012. As it appears, the company’s revenue was down $100 million on flat sales of hard disk drives, which signals declines in average selling prices of hard drives.

Seagate expects to report fiscal second quarter 2013 revenue of at least $3.6 billion and gross margin of more than 27%, reflecting unit shipments of approximately 58 million and maintaining market share. These preliminary results compare to the company’s previous expectations for revenue of approximately $3.5 billion and gross margin at the lower end of the Seagates’s long-term non-GAAP gross margin range of 27% to 32%.

During the first quarter of FY2013, on a GAAP basis the company reported revenue of approximately $3.7 billion, gross margin of 28.4%, net income of $582 million and diluted earnings per share of $1.42. Seagate shipped around 58 million hard disk drives in the previous quarter.

Declines of hard disk drive prices is clearly a good new for the consumers and PC makers, who have had to pay premium for hard drives since the Thailand flooding in late 2011. However, the dropping price may also signal softening demand and increasing competition, which is hardly a good news for the hard disk industry in general.

Seagate will report full fiscal second quarter 2013 financial results on Monday, January 28, 2013 after the close of the market.

Tags: Seagate, HDD, Business