Technology

Micron Shares Initially Rise Despite Q4 Loss

Thinkstock

Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) reported its fiscal fourth-quarter financial results after the markets closed on Tuesday. The company posted a net loss of $0.05 per share on $3.22 billion in revenue. There were consensus estimates from Thomson Reuters that called for a net loss of $0.12 per share on $3.15 billion in revenue. The same period from last year had $0.37 in earnings per share (EPS) on $3.6 billion in revenue.

DRAM sales volumes were up roughly 20%, while NAND sales volumes were up approximately 12%. DRAM average selling prices declined approximately 6%, while NAND average selling prices were relatively unchanged. The company’s overall consolidated gross margin of 18% for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2016 was slightly higher compared to the third quarter due to increases in gross margin of DRAM products.

Micron has been an incredible growth story just a couple of years ago, after years of being stagnant, but since then its growth has been interrupted and pricing has been soft for some time until recently. Over the course of this year, Micron has made incredible strides, and in just the past six months alone the stock is up over 60%.

Mark Durcan, CEO of Micron, commented on earnings:

We are seeing improving market conditions in terms of both slowing supply growth and improving demand across a number of key segments. In addition, we continue to execute on our key initiatives related to the deployment of advanced technologies and products to advantage our customers.

On the books, cash and short-term investments totaled $4.40 billion at the end of the quarter, versus $3.52 billion at the end of the previous fiscal year.

Shares of Micron closed Tuesday at $17.80, with a consensus analyst price target of $18.90 and a 52-week trading range of $9.31 to $19.30. Following the release of the earnings report, the stock was initially up 1.4% at $18.05 in the after-hours trading session.

 

Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.