SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) _ Western Digital Corp. (WDC) on Thursday reported a fiscal second-quarter loss of $139 million, after reporting a profit in the same period a year earlier.

On a per-share basis, the San Jose, California-based company said it had a loss of 47 cents. Earnings, adjusted for amortization costs and stock option expense, came to 62 cents per share.

The results exceeded Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of seven analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 56 cents per share.

The maker of hard drives for businesses and personal computers posted revenue of $4.23 billion in the period, also exceeding Street forecasts. Six analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $4.21 billion.

For the current quarter ending in April, Western Digital expects its per-share earnings to range from 85 cents to $1.05.

The company said it expects revenue in the range of $4.1 billion to $4.3 billion for the fiscal third quarter. Analysts surveyed by Zacks had expected revenue of $4.09 billion.

Western Digital shares have risen 5.5% since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has climbed nearly 2%. In the final minutes of trading on Thursday, shares hit $66.96, an increase of 53% in the last 12 months.

This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on WDC at https://www.zacks.com/ap/WDC

Automated Insights, source Associated Press News