CORRECTED (OFFICIAL) - UPDATE 2-Seagate cuts outlook
(Deletes erroneous reference that last shutdown was 2004 in paragraph 4, per company correction)
* Cuts Q2 revenue view to $2.3-2.6 bln from $2.85-3.05 bln
* Says Q2 operating results to be below expectations
* Company-wide holiday shutdown planned
(Updates with holiday shutdown, CEO and analyst comments)
NEW YORK, Dec 10 (Reuters) - Hard disk drive maker Seagate Technology (STX.O) on Wednesday slashed its outlook for the current quarter and said it will institute a company-wide holiday shutdown amid weakening demand.
A company spokesman said it was "not unusual to do it [a shutdown] depending on the demand environment." Employees will be able to use vacation time, borrow vacation time under existing company policy, or take unpaid leave during the furloughs and plant shutdowns, depending on where a facility is located.
The action may last as long as 3 weeks at some facilities. Seagate typically has furloughs over the holidays - although not always company-wide - but this year's is extended, the spokesman said.
Speaking at the Barclays Capital Global Technology Conference in San Francisco a few hours after the company issued its fiscal second-quarter warning, Seagate Chief Executive Bill Watkins said the company "will move onward through the fog, while also acknowledging in the "near term environment things are going to be cloudy."
Seagate blamed weak demand and more competitive pricing for its reduced outlook. It forecast revenue in the quarter ending Jan. 2 of $2.3 billion to $2.6 billion, down from its Oct. 22 estimate of $2.85 billion to $3.05 billion. Wall Street was looking for $2.9 billion, according to Reuters Estimates.
The company also said it expects operating results to be below its previous expectations.
Seagate shares rallied despite the bad news, rising 7 percent, as investors now accustomed to such warnings rushed in to scoop up the company's stock, which has fallen more than 75 percent this year.
Shebly Seyrafi, an analyst with Calyon Securities, said such activity is not an uncommon event in this market.
"We've seen recently that many investors are buying in the technology space after bad news, and that can be very dangerous."
Separately, data storage maker NetApp Inc (NTAP.O) said it will close its SnapMirror for open systems product line, which the company acquired through its $160 million purchase of Topio in 2006. The software, which is used for data replication and recovery, "was never adopted by customers in the way the company anticipated," NetApp said in a regulatory filing.
The company will close its facility in Haifa, Israel, which employs 51 people. NetApp expects to take $12 million to $14 million in charges, mainly related to the impairment of assets from the Topio acquisition, and an additional $5 million to $7 million in charges stemming from the closure of the Haifa facility.
Shares of Seagate, which is headquartered in the Cayman Islands, rose 28 cents to $5.37. Shares of Sunnyvale, California-based NetApp rose 7 cents to $13.94.
(Reporting by Tiffany Wu, Gabriel Madway and Jennifer Martinez; editing by )
