Micron Stock Jumps On Earnings Report That Shows Continued Demand for Memory Chips -- Barrons.com
DOW JONES & COMPANY, INC. 5:03 PM ET 6/29/2020
Symbol Last Price Change |
| MU | 49.145 | +0.655 (+1.35%) | | QUOTES AS OF 04:00:00 PM ET 06/29/2020 |
Shres of Micron Technology(MU) rose in late trading Monday, after the memory chip maker reported fiscal third-quarter earnings and sales that topped the guidance issued by the company just one month ago.
Micron stock was up 6% in the extended session. The shares closed up 1.4% during regular trading Monday, to $49.15, and have declined 8.6% this year versus a 6.9% drop for the S&P 500.
For the quarter ending in May, Micron logged net income of $803 million, which amounts to 71 cents a share, compared with a profit of $840 million, or 74 cents a share, a year ago. The company said that strong storage memory sales were partly responsible for the strong quarter, despite difficulties related to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Micron reported sales of $5.44 billion, up from $4.79 billion in the year-ago period. Adjusted for stock-based compensation, among other things, earnings were 82 cents a share in the latest quarter, compared with $1.05 a year ago.
The consensus forecast for non-GAAP earnings was 75 cents a share and sales of $5.27 billion.
"Micron's exceptional execution in the fiscal third quarter drove strong sequential revenue and EPS growth, despite challenges in the macro environment," Micron Technology(MU) CEO Sanjay Mehrotra said in a statement.
For the August quarter, Micron said it expected adjusted earnings of 95 cents a share to $1.15 a share on sales of $5.75 billion to $6.25 billion. That outlook is significantly ahead of what Wall Street has been expecting. Analysts have forecast August quarter sales of $5.46 billion and adjusted EPS of 79 cents.
Micron said it bought back 929,000 shares of its stock for $40 million during the fiscal third quarter and said it ended the period with a net cash position of $2.6 billion.
Micron issued earnings guidance a day before its third-quarter closed in May. Previously the company had said the coronavirus was driving demand for personal computers for which Micron makes memory.
Write to Max A. Cherney at max.cherney@barrons.com
The stock is at 52.09-52-16 at the moment, near the beginning of the Q&A. |
