Hutchinson: Preliminary Fiscal 3Q12 Financial Results

Hutchinson Technology Incorporated shipped approximately 100 million suspension assemblies during its fiscal 2012 third quarter ended June 24, 2012, compared to 96.9 million in the preceding quarter, but below its previous guidance of 105 million to 115 million.

The company said that its shipments in the last five weeks of its fiscal third quarter declined more than 15% compared to the first eight weeks of the quarter, as demand from its customers softened.

The company’s average selling price declined to $0.58 from $0.63 in the fiscal 2012 second quarter and from $0.59 in the fiscal 2011 third quarter.

As previously disclosed, the higher average selling price in the preceding quarter was primarily due to an increased volume of development products for new disk drive programs.

The decline in average selling price, combined with lower than expected shipments, resulted in net sales of approximately $60 million for the fiscal 2012 third quarter compared to $65.5 million in the fiscal 2012 second quarter.

The company also noted that it has resumed production at its Thailand assembly operation and has shipped suspensions from the operation for customer qualification.