Seagate Technology PLC Earnings Call Nuggets: End Demand and the Peak Industry TAM

Seagate Technology PLC (NASDAQ:STX) recently reported its second quarter earnings and discussed the following topics in its earnings conference call.

End Demand

Robert Cihra – Evercore Partners: I was just wondering was the Enterprise was clearly better than expected in the quarter versus when you went into the quarter and I know we’re going through inventory correct that really hit in the September quarter. Did you think that the upside, particularly in near line was reflecting better end demand or was it really just a timing we’re coming out of inventory correction and we’re just sort of correcting a little better and quicker than we thought or do you think, I guess end demand was stronger than expected?

Stephen J. Luczo – Chairman, President and CEO: I think demand continues to increase in the near line space, I mean that’s where the vast majority of the companies that are providing cloud infrastructure purchase those types of devices, so as the cloud deployment continue that market continues to grow and I think in Seagate’s case, we did execute well in terms of in quarter upsize there as well.

Robert Cihra – Evercore Partners: Then if I get a follow-up, I’m not sure if I do, but I’ll ask one. I’m curious with LTAs as they run through here into the beginning of calendar ’13, any expectation that they impact your pricing or market share or do you think they really don’t have as much impact as maybe people think or do you think they do?