Micron Technology late Thursday beat expectations for its fiscal second quarter thanks to strong data-center business. It also guided higher than views for the current quarter. MU stock jumped in extended trading.
The memory-chip maker earned an adjusted $1.56 a share on sales of $8.05 billion in the quarter ended Feb. 27. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected Micron to earn $1.43 a share on sales of $7.9 billion. In the year-earlier period, Micron earned an adjusted 42 cents a share on sales of $5.82 billion.
Micron's fiscal Q2 sales rose 38% year over year while its data-center revenue tripled. The company's revenue from high-bandwidth memory (HBM) crossed the $1 billion milestone in the quarter.
For the current quarter, Micron forecast adjusted earnings of $1.57 a share on sales of $8.8 billion. That's based on the midpoint of its guidance. Wall Street was looking for earnings of $1.52 a share on sales of $8.48 billion in fiscal Q3. In the same quarter last year, the Boise, Idaho-based company earned an adjusted 62 cents a share on sales of $6.81 billion.
In after-hours trading on the stock market today, Micron stock rose more than 5% to 108.40. During the regular session Thursday, Micron climbed 0.9% to close at 103.
"We expect record quarterly revenue in fiscal Q3, with DRAM and Nand demand growth in both data center and consumer-oriented markets, and we are on track for record revenue and significantly improved profitability in fiscal 2025," Chief Executive Sanjay Mehrotra said in a news release.
Micron makes two main types of memory chips. DRAM chips act as the main memory in PCs, servers and other devices, working closely with central processing units. Nand flash provides longer-term data storage.
Robust demand from artificial intelligence applications drove record data-center DRAM sales for Micron last quarter, the company said.
Micron ranks second out of 10 stocks in IBD's Computer-Data Storage industry group, according to IBD Stock Checkup. MU stock has an IBD Composite Rating of 75 out of 99.
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