Micron Technology, Inc. (MU) didn’t report its fiscal third-quarter results until after the close on Monday, but that didn’t stop this memory-chip manufacturer from taking a lofty spot on today’s Zacks #1 Rank Top Performers List.
Shares gained nearly 6% on optimism that the company would report its fifth straight quarter with a positive earnings surprise. Volume soared past 54 million shares, compared to the daily average of 31.2 million shares.
It was well worth the wait too. Micron succeeded in beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate, while also announcing significant year-over-year increases in EPS and revenue.
Semiconductor stocks have been performing well as the economy gets back on its feet. MU is the only company from the semiconductor – memory industry on today’s Zacks #1 Rank List. However, it is one of 15 total companies from semiconductor-related industries. Those other companies include Applied Micro Circuits Corporation (AMCC), Atmel Corporation (ATML), Broadcom Corporation (BRCM), O2Micro International Ltd. (OIIM), Semtech Corporation (SMTC), Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates, Inc. (VSEA) and Volterra Semiconductor Corporation (VLTR), among others.
Micron Technology is one of the world’s leading providers of advanced semiconductor solutions. It manufactures and markets a full range of DRAM, NAND Flash and NOR Flash memory, as well as other innovative memory technologies, packaging solutions and semiconductor systems for use in leading-edge computing, consumer, networking, embedded and mobile products.
Fiscal Third Quarter
The chart above does not yet take today’s quarterly results into account. Micron Technology has now beaten for 5 consecutive quarters, as it reported fiscal third-quarter earnings per share of 92 cents today. The Zacks Consensus Estimate was only expecting 42 cents.
The result also reversed a year-ago loss of 36 cents.
Net sales reached $2.29 billion in the quarter, compared to last year’s $1.11 billion. Sequentially, MU reported that revenue from sales of DRAM products increased 10% while revenue from sales of NAND Flash products advanced 16%.
Earnings Estimates for Micron Technology
Earnings estimates for Micron Technology can be considered in flux right now. The company’s fiscal third quarter report will certainly have an impact on expectations in the coming days. Even before the report though, estimates had been trending higher.
As of this writing, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for this fiscal year, ending August 2010, is $1.48 per share, which is up 1.4% in 30 days including a 1-cent improvement in the past week. However, over the past 30 days that guidance has soared more than 46%.
It’s a similar story for next fiscal year, ending August 2011. The Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.60 is up 1.3% in the past month with a penny improvement in a week. Though if you go back 90 days, that outlook has jumped by more than 44%. Furthermore, at the moment, analysts appear to be expecting profit growth of more than 8% for next fiscal year over this fiscal year.
There are 17 total estimates for this fiscal year. The past month has seen 2 upward revisions and 1 downward revision for this period. There has also been an upward revision and a downward revision in the past week. Meanwhile, there are 21 total estimates for next fiscal year. That period has also experienced 2 higher revisions and 1 lowered revision in 30 days.
Of course, all of this data is going to get old pretty quick as analysts will now start accounting for a whole new quarter’s results. The odds are good that earnings estimates will continue its upward track from here, which should help sustain MU’s momentum moving forward.
