Micron shares slide after revenue forecast fails to top estimates

Micron shares fell almost 8% in extended trading on Wednesday as investors looked past better-than-expected results and focused instead on a revenue forecast that was inline with estimates.

Here’s how the company did versus LSEG consensus estimates:

• Earnings per share: 62 cents adjusted, vs. 51 cents expected
• Revenue: $6.81 billion, vs. $6.67 billion expected

Micron, which makes computer memory and storage, said it expects adjusted earnings per share of $1.08 on revenue of $7.6 billion in the current quarter. Analysts were expecting earnings per share of $1.05 on revenue of $7.6 billion.

The shares have more than doubled in the past year as the company rides the artificial intelligence boom. Micron’s most advanced memory is needed for AI graphics processing units (GPUs) like Nvidia’s, putting the company in position to benefit from demand for technology to train and deploy AI applications like OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

Micron reported $332 million in net income, or 30 cents per share per share, versus a net loss of $1.9 billion, or a loss of $1.73 per share, in the year-ago quarter.

Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra highlighted the company’s AI business in a statement while saying that its smartphone and PC markets remain sluggish.

Mehrotra said that the company’s AI-oriented products were likely to increase in price and that the company’s data center business grew 50% on a quarter-to-quarter basis.

“Robust AI-driven demand for data center products is causing tightness on our leading-edge nodes,” Mehrotra said in a statement “Consequently, we expect continued price increases throughout calendar 2024 despite only steady near-term demand in PCs and smartphones.”

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