Micron Technology (MU) late Thursday beat Wall Street’s targets for its fiscal first quarter and guided higher for the current period as the memory-chip market strengthened. The Micron earnings news drove MU stock higher in extended trading.
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The Boise, Idaho-based company earned an adjusted 78 cents a share on sales of $5.77 billion in the quarter ended Dec. 3. Analysts expected Micron earnings of 71 cents a share on sales of $5.73 billion. On a year-over-year basis, Micron earnings rose 63% while sales climbed 12%.
Micron now has posted two consecutive quarters of earnings growth on a year-over-year basis. Sales have risen for three straight quarters since the company emerged from a cyclical downturn.
On Dec. 1, Micron guided analysts higher for the quarter when it raised its sales and earnings estimates.
MU Stock Climbs On Upbeat Earnings News
In after-hours trading on the stock market today, MU stock rose 1.1%, near 80. During the regular session, ahead of the Micron earnings news, MU stock surged 2.6% to 79.11.
For the current quarter, Micron expects to earn an adjusted 75 cents a share on sales of $5.8 billion. That’s based on the midpoint of its guidance. Analysts had forecast Micron earnings of 63 cents a share on sales of $5.5 billion in its fiscal second quarter. In the year-earlier period, Micron earnings were an adjusted 45 cents a share on sales of $4.8 billion.
Leading In DRAM, Nand Technologies
“Micron delivered outstanding fiscal first-quarter results, driven by focused execution and strong end-market demand,” Chief Executive Sanjay Mehrotra said in a news release.
He added, “We are excited about the strengthening DRAM industry fundamentals. For the first time in our history, Micron is simultaneously leading on DRAM and Nand technologies, and we are in an excellent position to benefit from accelerating digital transformation of the global economy fueled by AI, 5G, cloud, and the intelligent edge.”
Dynamic random-access memory, or DRAM, acts as the main memory in PCs, smartphones and other devices, working closely with central processing units. Nand flash provides longer-term data storage.
MU Stock Ranks First In Industry Group
According to the IBD Stock Checkup tool, MU stock ranks first out of nine stocks in IBD’s Computer-Data Storage industry group.
MU stock has an IBD Composite Rating of 94 out of 99. IBD’s Composite Rating combines five separate proprietary ratings into one easy-to-use rating. The best growth stocks have a Composite Rating of 90 or better.
Follow Patrick Seitz on Twitter at @IBD_PSeitz for more stories on consumer technology, software and semiconductor stocks.
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