By Philipp Gollner

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Seagate Technology <STX.N>, the world's largest computer disk-drive maker, posted a higher quarterly profit on Tuesday but gave a muted current-period outlook after U.S. consumers reined in spending in a tough economy, sending the shares 2.3 percent lower.

The company also said profit margins have narrowed in the current quarter as prices fall industrywide. But personal-computer sales and demand by corporate customers remain strong despite a worsening economy, executives said.

"We haven't seen the enterprise market slow down," Brian Dexheimer, president of Seagate's consumer unit, told analysts on a conference call, referring to business customers.

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"Data-center storage is still relatively high," he added. "We're not seeing it there. We're seeing it in places that seem to be a little bit more transient in purchasing," including U.S. consumers.

Net income in Seagate's fiscal third quarter increased to $344 million, or 65 cents per share, from $212 million, or 37 cents per share, a year earlier.

Excluding charges for restructuring and other items, profit was 74 cents per share, beating the average analyst estimate of 70 cents per share as compiled by Reuters Estimates.

Revenue rose 10 percent to $3.1 billion from $2.83 billion but was shy of the company's earlier projection of $3.2 billion to $3.3 billion. Analysts, on average, expected revenue of $3.25 billion, according to Reuters Estimates.

"The pricing pressure that many of us were seeing turned out to be true," said Shaw Wu, an analyst at American Technology Research who has a "neutral" rating on Seagate. "Their earnings were very strong in the quarter but the guidance was weak."

Chief Executive Bill Watkins told analysts the company fell short of its expectations in the laptop PC and retail markets but would improve performance in those sectors in the current quarter.

He said prices had declined in the industry but Seagate "didn't participate in that."

Asked whether PC demand was slowing because of the economy, Watkins told analysts, "We think the market will continue to have double-digit growth and we will continue to participate in that."

Seagate is planning for revenue growth of about 10 percent "and we see indications from our customers that would support that," Watkins added.

Watkins' comments came as Intel Corp <INTC.O>, the world's largest maker of semiconductors, reported better-than-expected quarterly revenue and gave an optimistic outlook for profit margins, helping dispel some analysts' concerns that demand for PCs had fallen sharply in a slumping U.S. economy.

Seagate in March raised its third-quarter net income forecast to a range of 63 cents to 72 cents per share from an earlier projection of 57 cents to 61 cents per share, citing a more favorable product mix and better-than-expected pricing.

Shares of Scotts Valley, California-based Seagate, down about 21 percent this year, fell 47 cents in extended trading following the earnings report after closing up 1 percent at $20.17 on the New York Stock Exchange.

For its fiscal fourth quarter ending in June, Seagate forecast net income ranging from 37 cents per share to 41 cents per share and revenue of $2.85 billion to $3 billion.

Analysts, on average, are expecting fourth-quarter net income of 53 cents per share and revenue of $3.11 billion, according to Reuters Estimates.

Analysts are forecasting earnings before items of 58 cents per share. Seagate on Tuesday forecast fourth-quarter earnings of 41 cents to 45 cents per share excluding certain costs.

Seagate, whose main competitors include Western Digital Corp <WDC.N> and Japan's Hitachi Ltd <6501.T>, said last month it had sold more high-end equipment to corporate customers and benefited from better pricing for its products. Disk-drive prices fell sharply last year as Seagate's rivals sought to gain market share.

(Editing by Carol Bishopric, Phil Berlowitz)