⚡What does Seagate do, in 30 seconds?
Seagate designs and makes hard disk drives and storage systems, mostly for data centers 1. Data-center products made up 80% of its revenue in fiscal 2026 11. It sold $12.2bn ✓ in FY2026, and device makers (OEMs) bought 81% ✓ of that.
📱What does Seagate sell?
Seagate reports its sales by who buys the drives, and device makers buy most of them. The drives fall into two groups, big data-center drives and smaller edge drives 1. Here is each way the drives reach buyers.
Device makers (OEMs)
Seagate sells drives straight to equipment makers, called OEMs, in both its data-center and edge markets 1. Its data-center hard drives hold up to 44TB each, and its storage systems up to 3.5PB 1. Edge drives range from 1TB to 32TB and are used in video cameras, network storage, PCs and gaming 1. This channel brought in $9.8bn ✓ in FY2026.
👥 Equipment makers in data-center and edge markets; many buy under master purchase agreements 1.
Through distributors
Distributors buy Seagate's data-center and edge drives and resell them 1. Their deals are not exclusive and usually include sales programs, limited return rights and some protection if prices fall 1. This channel brought in $1.6bn ✓ in FY2026.
👥 Distribution companies that resell Seagate's drives to their own customers 1.
Retail
Seagate's own branded storage products, sold to shops directly or through distribution partners 1. Edge and consumer sales are usually higher in the first half of Seagate's year, thanks to back-to-school and holiday buying 3. Retail brought in $0.7bn ✓ in FY2026, down from $0.8bn ✓ in FY2025.
👥 Casual users, gamers and creative professionals 1.
How the mix has shifted
Where the customers are
Seagate's filing splits its sales by country, and the United States had the biggest share, at 50% ✓ in FY2026. Singapore came next with 40% ✓, and the Netherlands made up 10% ✓. Singapore is also where Seagate has its main offices 18.
💸How does Seagate make money?
Follow the money from left to rightfrom top to bottom: what customers pay for, what it costs to make, and what is left as profit.
Seagate sold $12.2bn ✓ of drives and storage systems in FY2026. Making them cost $6.6bn ✓. What is left is gross profit, the money kept after paying for what was sold. That came to $5.6bn ✓.
Next come the costs of running the company. Research and development took $0.8bn ✓, and sales, marketing and admin took $0.6bn ✓. Other operating costs took $0.1bn ✓. Operating profit, the profit from the main business, was $4.1bn ✓. After interest, other items and tax of $0.5bn ✓, net income was $3.2bn ✓. Out of every hundred dollars of sales, Seagate kept about $26 ✓ as profit.
That is far more than a few years ago. Use the year tabs to compare: in FY2024, Seagate kept just $5 ✓ of every hundred dollars. In FY2023, during a slump, it lost money, with net income of -$0.5bn ✓.
Out of every $100 customers paid in FY2026…
⏱️ Seagate by the clock
Spread the FY2026 totals evenly over its 371 days and you get this. Source: Seagate Technology Holdings plc 10-K [4].
📈How is Seagate doing?
Seagate is in a strong upswing after a deep slump. Sales grew 34.1% ✓ in FY2026, to $12.2bn ✓. Seagate says the rise in fiscal 2026 came mainly from shipping more high-capacity data-center drives and raising prices 11. It shipped 789 exabytes of drive space, up from 595 in fiscal 2025 11. Operating margin reached 33.6% ✓, up from 6.9% ✓ in FY2024. Free cash flow was $3.1bn ✓ in FY2026, against $0.8bn ✓ in FY2025.
The years before show how deep the slump went. Sales were $11.7bn ✓ in FY2022, then fell 36.7% ✓ in FY2023 to $7.4bn ✓. Seagate lost money that year, with net income of -$0.5bn ✓. Sales slipped again to $6.6bn ✓ in FY2024. Over ten years, sales grew just 0.9% ✓ a year on average, rising in 6 ✓ of 10 ✓ years.
The upswing has carried on into fiscal 2027. On 27 October 2026, Seagate reported first-quarter revenue of $4,233 million, up from $2,629 million a year earlier 8. Its gross margin that quarter was 57.3% 8. For its second quarter of fiscal 2027, it expects about $4.8bn of revenue, give or take $100m 8. That is a forecast, not a result. Figures on this page run to FY2026, which had 53 weeks and ended on 3 July 2026 18.
📝 The report card
Seagate earns good marks for growth, profit and cash, but low marks for its balance sheet and for steadiness. Every company is graded on the same fixed scale, so an A means the same thing on every page. The strip shows where Seagate (orange) and its 2 peers land; further right is better.
Growth
Seagate's sales grew 18.2% ✓ a year over its last three fiscal years, which earns an A ✓. That count starts from FY2023, a slump year with sales of just $7.4bn ✓, so it flatters the trend. Western Digital grew 27.4% ✓ a year, also an A ✓, and Micron grew 104.6% ✓.
Why this measure? (higher is better)
Growing sales is the engine of a business. Mature giants rarely grow fast, so 5% a year already earns a C.
Profitability
Over the last three years combined, Seagate kept 23.1% ✓ of sales as operating profit, which earns a B ✓. The yearly margins ranged from 6.9% ✓ in FY2024 to 33.6% ✓ in FY2026. Western Digital is about level at 22.2% ✓, also a B ✓.
Why this measure? (higher is better)
Operating margin is the share of each sales dollar left after running the business. Software and platforms often clear 30%; hardware makers usually sit below 10%.
Cash generation
Over the last three years combined, Seagate turned 16.5% ✓ of sales into free cash flow, which earns a B ✓. Western Digital managed 13.9% ✓, a C ✓, while Micron reached 31.0% ✓.
Why this measure? (higher is better)
Free cash flow is the cash left after paying for factories, data centres and equipment. It funds dividends, buybacks and new bets.
Balance sheet
Seagate owes more than it holds. Its cash and investments minus its borrowings came to -15.3% ✓ of a year's sales, which earns a D ✓. At the end of FY2026 it held $1.7bn ✓ of cash and investments against $3.6bn ✓ of debt. Since then it has paid off debt, cutting it to $1.6bn 8.
Why this measure? (higher is better)
More cash than debt gives a company room to ride out bad years. Some debt is normal; a lot of it makes a company fragile.
Steadiness
Seagate's yearly growth swings a lot, with a standard deviation of 21.6% ✓, which earns an F ✓. Sales fell 36.7% ✓ in FY2023 and then rose 38.9% ✓ in FY2025. Even so, it is the steadiest of the three, as Western Digital's figure is 25.5% ✓.
Why this measure? (lower is better)
Steady growers are easier to plan around. Big swings mean sales depend on product cycles, the economy or one-off events.
🧑🏫 How the grades work
- Same scale for everyone. Each measure has fixed cut-offs (shown under each strip). Clear the A line and you get an A, whatever your peers do.
- Three years together. Profitability and cash generation add up the last three fiscal years before dividing, so one unusual year counts for less than it would on its own (a year much bigger than the others still weighs most).
- Peers for context. The rank shows how Seagate compares with the group. Companies within 0.1 percentage point share a rank.
- Same source. Every company's figures come from its own latest annual report (10-K), so fiscal years end in different months.
- Judgement, openly stated. The cut-offs are QuantVantage.ai's view of what good looks like for a large, established company. They are not a forecast or a recommendation.
11 years at a glance
Where the cash goes
Over time, Seagate has handed back slightly more cash than its free cash flow. From FY2016 to FY2026 it paid out $15.2bn ✓ through buybacks and dividends, against $14.2bn ✓ of free cash flow. In FY2026, payouts were just 26% ✓ of free cash flow. In October 2026 Seagate raised its quarterly dividend by about 3%, to $0.76 a share 8.
🧮Ratios 101: what are Seagate's key financial ratios?
Ratios shrink Seagate's numbers into easy comparisons. Keep in mind that FY2026 was a strong year after a slump, and that Seagate carries more debt than its peers. A ratio divides one number by another so companies of any size can be compared. Each card shows the formula with Seagate's real FY2026 numbers, the peer median and the trend.
💰 Profitability: how much of each sale is kept?
Gross margin
What is left from each sale after paying to make the product or deliver the service.
👉 At 45.6% ✓, up from 23.4% ✓ in FY2016, Seagate trails the 64.8% ✓ peer median. Micron's 80.7% ✓ pulls that median up, while Western Digital is close at 48.9% ✓.
📏 Rule of thumb: Above 40% usually signals pricing power or a big software or services mix.
Operating margin
What is left after also paying for research, marketing and running the company.
👉 Seagate's 33.6% ✓ is far above its 4.0% ✓ of FY2016 and near Western Digital's 34.5% ✓. It is below the 54.5% ✓ peer median, which Micron lifts.
📏 Rule of thumb: Above 20% is strong for a large company.
Net margin
The bottom line: profit after interest and taxes, per dollar of sales.
👉 Seagate kept 26.1% ✓ of sales as final profit, up from 2.2% ✓ in FY2016. The 68.4% ✓ peer median is unusual: Western Digital's 72.9% ✓ is far above its 34.5% ✓ operating margin, so much of it came from outside its main business.
📏 Rule of thumb: Above 15% is strong; one-off tax items can move it in a single year.
Return on equity (ROE)
Profit earned for each dollar that shareholders have left in the company.
👉 ROE of 146.9% ✓ looks huge mainly because shareholders' equity is small, just $2.2bn ✓. From FY2016 to FY2026, Seagate handed back $15.2bn ✓, more than its $14.2bn ✓ of free cash flow. The peer median is 83.9% ✓.
📏 Rule of thumb: Around 15% or more is good, but buybacks shrink equity and can make ROE look huge.
⚙️ Efficiency: how hard do the assets work?
Return on assets (ROA)
Profit earned from everything the company owns, however it was paid for.
👉 ROA of 31.9% ✓ is a cleaner signal than ROE. It is up from 3.0% ✓ in FY2016 but below the 55.7% ✓ peer median.
📏 Rule of thumb: Above 10% is strong; banks and factories usually earn less.
Asset turnover
Dollars of sales squeezed out of each dollar of assets.
👉 Seagate's sales were 1.2x ✓ the value of everything it owns, above the 0.8x ✓ peer median but a little below 1.4x ✓ in FY2016.
📏 Rule of thumb: Retailers often top 2x; asset-heavy businesses can sit below 0.5x.
Inventory days
How many days of products sit in warehouses before they are sold.
👉 Seagate holds 86 ✓ days of stock, fewer than the peer median of 115 ✓ days but far more than the 37 ✓ days of FY2016.
📏 Rule of thumb: Fewer days means less cash tied up and less risk of products going stale.
🛟 Safety: could it survive a bad year?
Current ratio
Can short-term assets (cash, money owed by customers, stock) pay the bills due within a year?
👉 Seagate's 1.7x ✓ means short-term assets are bigger than bills due within a year. That is about where it was in FY2016, at 1.6x ✓, and below the 2.3x ✓ peer median.
📏 Rule of thumb: Above 1.0x is the classic comfort line, but cash-rich giants can run below it on purpose.
Debt to equity
How much the company has borrowed for each dollar shareholders have in it.
👉 Seagate's debt was 1.6x ✓ its equity, down from 2.6x ✓ in FY2016 but far above the 0.1x ✓ peer median. Small equity makes this ratio look larger.
📏 Rule of thumb: Below 1.0x is conservative. Like ROE, it can rise when buybacks shrink equity, even if debt has not changed.
Interest cover
How many times over operating profit could pay the year's interest bill.
👉 Operating profit covered interest costs 14.4x ✓ in FY2026, up from 2.3x ✓ in FY2016. That is far below the 482.1x ✓ peer median, because Micron and Western Digital carry little debt, at 0.0x ✓ and 0.1x ✓ of equity.
📏 Rule of thumb: Above 5x is comfortable; below 2x is a warning sign.
💵 Cash and owners: where does the money end up?
Cash conversion
Does reported profit turn into real cash? Free cash flow is operating cash minus capital spending.
👉 Seagate turned profit into free cash at 1.0x ✓, above the 0.5x ✓ peer median. The 4.4x ✓ of FY2016 looks high because profit that year was only $0.2bn ✓.
📏 Rule of thumb: Near or above 1.0x means profits are backed by cash.
R&D intensity
How much of each sales dollar goes into inventing future products.
👉 Seagate spends 6.2% ✓ of sales on R&D, close to the 6.6% ✓ peer median but down from 11.1% ✓ in FY2016. R&D itself fell from $1.2bn ✓ in FY2016 to $0.8bn ✓ in FY2026.
📏 Rule of thumb: Tech companies often spend 10% to 20%; more is not always better if it does not pay off.
Stock pay
Pay given to staff in shares instead of cash. It is a real cost to owners because it adds shares.
👉 Stock pay was 1.7% ✓ of sales, a little above the 1.3% ✓ peer median and the 1.1% ✓ of FY2016.
📏 Rule of thumb: Under 5% of sales is modest for a tech company.
Shareholder payout
How much of the year's profit was handed back to owners.
👉 Seagate returned 25.4% ✓ of FY2026 profit, above the 15.4% ✓ peer median. In FY2016, when profit was small, payouts came to 732.7% ✓ of it.
📏 Rule of thumb: Above 100% means it returned more than it earned, using cash savings or debt.
Ratios use fiscal-year-end balance sheet values. Inputs are shown rounded, so dividing them can differ from the result in the last digit. A peer median leaves out peers that do not report the inputs, or where the ratio means nothing (for example, negative shareholders' equity). Rules of thumb are general guides from QuantVantage.ai, not hard limits. No share-price ratios (like price-to-earnings) are shown on this page.
🥊Who are Seagate's competitors?
Seagate's closest rival is Western Digital, which also makes hard drives for data centers 3111213. Micron is shown because its flash-based SSDs replace hard drives in PCs and compete for some data-center work 910.
| Company | Where they compete | Revenue | Growth/yr (3y) | Op. margin | FCF margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seagate (STX, FY2026) | Hard drives and storage systems for data centers and edge devices 1 | $12.2bn | 18.2% | 33.6% | 25.5% |
| Micron (MU, FY2026) | SSDs built on its own flash chips, which replace hard drives in PCs and edge devices 910 | $133.2bn | 104.6% | 74.6% | 44.3% |
| Western Digital (WDC, FY2026) | Hard drives; each names the other as a rival, and cloud was 89% of its revenue 3111213 | $12.9bn | 27.4% | 34.5% | 27.2% |
Toshiba is the other hard drive maker that Seagate names as a rival 3. Seagate also counts flash-chip suppliers and storage system makers as competitors 3. Western Digital names the same group: Seagate, Toshiba and flash suppliers 21.
🧭Seagate SWOT: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats
💪 Strengths
- Seagate shipped 789 exabytes of drive space in fiscal 2026, 695 of them in high-capacity data-center drives 11.
- It designs and makes key drive parts itself, including read/write heads and recording media 3.
- Its Mozaic drives use its own version of heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) to store more on each disk 3.
- Seagate says hard drives still hold the vast majority of storage shipped into large data centers 1.
🩹 Weaknesses
- Seagate owes more than it holds, which earns a D ✓ on our report card. At the end of FY2026, debt was $3.6bn ✓ against $1.7bn ✓ of cash and investments.
- One customer made up about 14% of fiscal 2026 revenue, up from about 10% the year before 914.
- It relies on a few suppliers, sometimes just one, for parts such as heads, motors, chips and rare earth elements 9.
- Sales swing a lot, which earns an F ✓; they fell 36.7% ✓ in FY2023.
🚀 Opportunities
- Data-center products grew to 80% of revenue in fiscal 2026, from 75% the year before 11.
- For high-capacity drives, key customers agree longer-term forecasts and supply commitments, sometimes with cancellation charges 1.
- Seagate expects revenue of about $4.8bn in its second quarter of fiscal 2027, a forecast and not a result 8.
- It has been paying off debt, retiring about $1.2bn in the quarter to October 2026 and $750m more after it 8.
⚠️ Threats
- If its move to HAMR drives runs late, Seagate warns it could lose sales and market share 9.
- SSDs keep replacing lower-capacity hard drives in PCs and edge devices 910.
- Western Digital, its closest rival, also makes its own heads and media 15 and has HAMR on its roadmap 15.
- Under a 2023 settlement over drive sales to Huawei, Seagate pays $300m in quarterly payments of $15m over five years 17.
🏰Does Seagate have a moat?
Why 1?
One more buyer does not make Seagate's drives better for anyone else. None of the things Seagate says customers choose on depends on how many others use its drives 3.
Why 4?
Seagate designs and makes its own read/write heads and recording media, the core parts of a drive 3. It shipped 789 exabytes of drive space in fiscal 2026 11. Its 10-K names Western Digital and Toshiba as its hard drive rivals 3. Western Digital also makes its own heads and media, so this edge is shared 15.
A moat is what keeps rivals from taking a company's customers and profits. Scores are QuantVantage.ai's judgement (5 = strongest), set with the same rubric on every explainer (orange is Seagate; grey dots are peers).
🔭What should you watch next?
Huawei settlement payments
Seagate pays $15m a quarter for five years from 31 October 2023, $300m in total 17.
📚Learn the words
❓Frequently asked questions about Seagate
How does Seagate make money?
Seagate makes money by selling hard drives and storage systems 1. In fiscal 2026, data-center products made up 80% of revenue and edge products 20% 11. Total sales were $12.2bn ✓ in FY2026, and $9.8bn ✓ of that came from device makers (OEMs).
Who buys Seagate's drives?
Mostly equipment makers (OEMs). Data-center drives go mainly to cloud companies, equipment makers, distributors and large businesses 1. In fiscal 2026, OEMs bought 81% of Seagate's revenue, distributors 13% and retailers 6% 11.
Are SSDs replacing hard drives?
Partly. SSDs keep replacing smaller hard drives in PCs and edge devices, but in data centers the two mostly work side by side 910. Seagate says hard drives still hold the vast majority of storage shipped into large data centers 1.
What is HAMR?
HAMR is heat-assisted magnetic recording, and Seagate uses its own version in its Mozaic drives to store more data on each disk 3. Its biggest data-center drives hold up to 44TB 1. Seagate plans to spend more in fiscal 2027 to ramp HAMR output 11.
Why did Seagate's sales jump in FY2026?
Mainly because it shipped more high-capacity drives and raised prices. Sales rose 34.1% ✓ in FY2026. Seagate says more exabytes shipped and higher prices drove the rise in fiscal 2026 11. It shipped 789 exabytes, up from 595 the year before 11.
Where is Seagate based?
Seagate's main offices are in Singapore, and the company is registered in Ireland 18. Its US product development sites are in California, Colorado and Minnesota, and a plant in Northern Ireland makes recording heads 18.
Who runs Seagate?
Dave Mosley has been Seagate's CEO since October 2017 and board chair since October 2025 168. He joined Seagate in 1996 as a senior engineer 168.
Does Seagate pay a dividend?
Yes, Seagate pays a cash dividend every quarter. In October 2026 it raised it by about 3%, to $0.76 a share 8. It paid $0.6bn ✓ in dividends in FY2026.
🎮Play: higher or lower, then test yourself
Figures come from each company's latest annual report (10-K); fiscal years end in different months. Sources: [4] [6] [5].
🧠 Test yourself
5 quick questions. Score: 0 / 5
1. About how much of Seagate's revenue came from data-center products in fiscal 2026?
2. How much data could Seagate's first drive, the ST506 of 1979, hold?
3. Which buyers bring Seagate the most money?
4. What does the H in HAMR stand for?
5. In 2008, Seagate said it was the first company to ship how many hard drives?
🔎Sources and method
Every figure comes from a source listed here or is calculated from those sources (marked ✓). Company financials are taken from SEC filings (10-K and 10-Q) as tagged in XBRL. Peer grades rank the same measures across the company and its peers. This page contains no share-price data and no valuation.
- Seagate Technology Holdings plc Form 10-K, fiscal 2026 (Item 1, Business) — Products, end markets, customers and sales channels (OEMs, distributors, retail) (accessed 2026-10-29)
- Seagate (STX) Form 10-K for fiscal year 2026, filed 2026-08-04 — revenue by product, segment and geography (accessed 2026-10-28)
- Seagate Technology Holdings plc Form 10-K, fiscal 2026 (Item 1, Business) — Competition, demand patterns, vertical integration, manufacturing sites and HAMR roadmap (accessed 2026-10-29)
- SEC EDGAR companyfacts: Seagate (STX) — annual 10-K facts (accessed 2026-10-28)
- SEC EDGAR companyfacts: WESTERN DIGITAL CORP (WDC) — annual 10-K facts (accessed 2026-10-28)
- SEC EDGAR companyfacts: MICRON TECHNOLOGY INC (MU) — annual 10-K facts (accessed 2026-10-28)
- SEC EDGAR companyfacts: Seagate (STX) — balance sheet at 2026-07-03 (accessed 2026-10-28)
- Seagate Form 8-K, Exhibit 99.1: fiscal first quarter 2027 results — Q1 FY2027 results, debt retired, dividend, Q2 FY2027 outlook (accessed 2026-10-29)
- Seagate Technology Holdings plc Form 10-K, fiscal 2026 (Item 1A, Risk Factors) — Competition from SSDs, customer concentration (14% / 10%), HAMR transition risk, limited suppliers (accessed 2026-10-29)
- Micron Technology Form 10-K, fiscal 2026 (Item 1, Business) — Micron data center SSDs built on its NAND (accessed 2026-10-29)
- Seagate Technology Holdings plc Form 10-K, fiscal 2026 (Item 7, MD&A) — Exabytes shipped, revenue by channel and market, debt reduction, capital spending outlook (accessed 2026-10-29)
- Western Digital Corporation Form 10-K, fiscal 2026 (Item 1, Business) — Western Digital names Seagate and Toshiba as HDD competitors (accessed 2026-10-29)
- Western Digital Corporation Form 10-K, fiscal 2026 (Item 7, MD&A) — Cloud share of fiscal 2026 revenue (89%) (accessed 2026-10-29)
- Seagate Technology Holdings plc Form 10-K, fiscal 2026 (Note 15, Revenue) — Revenue by channel and country; major-customer share fiscal 2024-2026 (accessed 2026-10-29)
- Western Digital Corporation Form 10-K FY2026 (FYE 2026-07-03), filed 2026-08-14 — Item 1 Research and Technology, Patents, Manufacturing: designs and makes substantially all its own recording heads and magnetic media; HDDs record magnetically on rotating disks; roadmap ePMR, OptiNAND, UltraSMR, HAMR, triple stage actuators; common platforms give purchasing economies and let customers reuse qualification; about 4,700 active patents; relies on licensed technology and cross-licenses; assembly and test sites in Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines, China and California (accessed 2026-10-29)
- Seagate Technology Holdings plc Form 10-K, fiscal 2026 (Item 1, Business) — Patent counts, employees and executive officers (accessed 2026-10-29)
- Seagate Technology Holdings plc Form 10-K, fiscal 2026 (Note 12, Legal contingencies) — Securities class action settlement and hearing date; BIS settlement (accessed 2026-10-29)
- Seagate Technology Holdings plc Form 10-K, fiscal 2026 (Item 2, Properties; cover; Note 1) — Principal executive offices, Irish incorporation, fiscal year definition, manufacturing sites (accessed 2026-10-29)
- Seagate investor relations press release, April 22, 2008: one billion hard drives — Founding in 1979, first product ST506 (5 MB), one billionth drive (accessed 2026-10-29)
- SEC EDGAR companyfacts: Seagate (STX) — quarterly 10-Q/10-K facts (accessed 2026-10-28)
- Western Digital Corporation Form 10-K FY2026 (FYE 2026-07-03), filed 2026-08-14 — Item 1 Competition, Sales, Warranty, Human Capital: competitors Seagate, Toshiba and NAND flash suppliers; sells to hyperscale cloud providers, neoclouds, OEMs, resellers, distributors and retailers, with long-term agreements with some customers; international sales 60% of FY2026 revenue; three customers at 16%, 15% and 13% of FY2026 revenue; sales depend on large Cloud customers' buying patterns; warranty up to five years; about 40,000 employees in 24 countries, about 88% in Asia Pacific (accessed 2026-10-29)
- Seagate Form 8-K: settlement of 3.50% exchangeable notes due 2028 — Redemption of exchangeable notes on 2026-09-08 (accessed 2026-10-29)