Hard Disk Error: Earnings Failure Detected

The econalypse has been particularly unkind to Seagate Technology. The hard-drive manufacturer posted a fiscal fourth-quarter loss Tuesday, its third in a row.

Weighed down by heavy restructuring charges, Seagate reported a loss of $81 million, or 16 cents a share, compared to net income in the same quarter last year of $160 million, or 32 cents per share. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters had expected, on average, a loss of 10 cents per share, excluding special items.

Ugly. And it gets worse. For the year, Seagate said it lost a horrifying $3.09 billion, or $6.32 per share.

But the situation is improving–at least, Seagate hopes so. Looking ahead, the company sees revenue of $2.4 billion to $2.6 billion in the current quarter, better than it had predicted in June. “We are…seeing signs that the storage markets are improving,” Seagate CEO Steve Luczo said in a statement. Later, during a conference later, he added, “We are approaching the September quarter cautiously.”