DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
Micron Technology Inc.'s (MU) fiscal fourth-quarter loss
narrowed sharply amid prior-year write-downs while the latest
results topped analysts' expectations as Chairman and Chief
Executive Steven Appleton said the market "is beginning to
improve."
Shares rose 2.4% after-hours to $8.61. The stock through the
close had more than tripled in value this year.
Micron, the last U.S. maker of dynamic random-access memory, or
DRAM, chips, has suffered from three years of oversupply. But cuts
in capacity throughout the industry have helped turn prices around
and a number of companies have reported demand is growing.
For the quarter ended Sept. 3, Micron reported a loss of $88
million, or 10 cents a share, compared with a year-earlier loss of
$344 million, or 45 cents a share. The prior-year results included
a $205 million write-down on memory chips and a $70 million gain
related to price adjustments for chips bought from other
producers.
Revenue dropped 10% to $1.3 billion.
Analysts' estimates were for a loss of 19 cents a share on
revenue of $1.27 billion, according to a poll by Thomson
Reuters.
Gross margin was 13%. The company had posted three-straight
quarters of negative readings before the fiscal third quarter as
the cost of producing chips fell below their selling price.
Sales of DRAM chips grew 28% from the prior quarter amid a 19%
volume jump while NAND flash-memory chips posted 10% growth as
volume climbed 23%. DRAM chips are used in personal computers,
while NAND chips are found in such devices as MP3 music players and
digital cameras.
-By Kathy Shwiff and Kevin Kingsbury, Dow Jones Newswires;
212-416-2357; Kathy.Shwiff@dowjones.com