History (1991): Quarterly Sales of Conner Peripherals Dropping for First Time in 3 Years

Especially on account of 2.5-inch HDD sales, Conner Peripherals (San Jose, CA) has reported $381.8 million sales for 1Q91, ended March 31, 1991, an increase of 62% compared with $235.1 million reported in the same quarter last year. Net income more than doubled to $35.1 million from $15.4 million.

But, for the second time in the entire life of the company since 1986, sales in this quarter are lower than the previous one, by 10%. The quarter-to-quarter sales dropped 3 years ago when the company decided to move to low-profile profile 3.5-inch drives.

The recent drop is related to increased price competition and component shortages (thin-film heads and aluminum disks).

One of the problems should be solved since Conner bought the disk-coating operation of Domain Technology last year.

Conner notes that sales to Compaq were 15% of total revenue during the last quarter, vs. 23% in 1990.

This article is an abstract of news published on the former paper version of Computer Data Storage Newsletter on issue ≠40, published on May 1991.