Scalper1 News
Micron Technology ( MU ) stock was up 2.5% in after-hours trading Wednesday, after the memory chipmaker reported a Q2 bottom-line beat despite a 10% average price reduction in DRAM (dynamic random-access memory) chip prices. Wall Street was expecting the DRAM pricing decline. Micron stock rose a fraction in Wednesday’s regular session, to 10.48. For its fiscal Q2 ended March 3, Micron reported a 30% year-over-year dip in sales to $2.93 billion and a 5-cent per-share loss ex items, vs. 81 cents earnings per share minus items in the year-earlier period. Sales missed the consensus of 33 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters for $3.05 billion, but the bottom line beat, as analysts modeled an 8-cent per-share loss ex items. Both measures were in line with Micron’s three-months-ago guidance for $2.9 billion to $3.2 billion and 5-12 cents in per-share losses. Micron CEO Mark Durcan noted the tough DRAM environment, which analysts say is under pressure by excess supply from South Korean rivals Samsung and SK Hynix. DRAM sales price and volume declined by 10% sequentially in Q2. Nonvolatile memory sales declined 6% quarter over quarter, on a 15% decline in average sales prices, partially offset by greater sales volume, Micron said. “Although we continue to navigate challenging market conditions, we are on track with deploying our advanced DRAM and Nand (flash memory) technologies and improving our cost structure,” Durcan said in the company’s earnings release. Durcan said he expects Micron to improve its competitive position is the second half of 2016. Scalper1 News
Scalper1 News