Technology

Why This Higher Guidance Looks Even Better for Micron

Jon C. Ogg

Published: May 21, 2018 11:10 am

Last Updated: January 11, 2020 11:21 pm

Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) helped put in some added strength in the technology and semiconductor sector on Monday by updating guidance ahead of its Analyst and Investor Event scheduled Monday afternoon. The semiconductor giant raised revenue and earnings per share guidance for its fiscal third quarter.

While some investors already had anticipated that Micron’s numbers would still look good in the coming quarters, there have been some macroeconomic and continual memory price concerns that were more than just in the back of minds of investors. There have also been concerns out of the likes of Apple and other chip-intensive companies on how this might play out this year and into 2019.

Micron said that its revised guidance was being driven by strong execution and healthy industry conditions. The new guidance for the quarter ending in May is for revenues to be in the range of $7.70 billion to $7.80 billion, above the prior guidance of $7.20 billion to $7.60 billion. And the new earnings range was $3.12 to $3.16 per share, compared with the prior $2.76 to $2.90 per share.

Sanjay Mehrotra, president and CEO of Micron, said of the increased guidance:

Our third quarter results are driven by focused execution of our strategy against a backdrop of healthy industry fundamentals. We look forward to discussing the significant opportunities ahead for Micron during our analyst and investor event later today.

Mehrotra said back on March 22 about earnings and guidance:

Micron executed exceptionally well in the second quarter, delivering record results and strong free cash flow driven by broad-based demand for our memory and storage solutions. Our performance was accentuated by an ongoing shift to high-value solutions as we grew sales to our cloud, mobile and automotive customers and set new records for SSDs and graphics memory. Secular technology trends are driving robust demand for memory and storage, and Micron is well-positioned to address these growing opportunities.

Micron shares were at $61.07 a day before the March 22 earnings report, closed at $58.92 the day of the report and were down at $54.21 the day after earnings. Since then shares had traded down into the mid-$40s before recovering of late. In Monday’s late morning trading, Micron shares were back up over 4% at $55.70.

The stock has a 52-week trading range of $26.85 to $6.