Micron Swings to Q4 Loss, In-Line with Estimates

Micron swung to a fiscal Q4 loss of $158 million, or -$0.21/share, after earning $64M, or $0.08 last year. This was Micron's third-consecutive quarterly loss. Sales rose nearly 5% to $1.44B. Analysts were expecting a net loss of $0.22 on sales of $1.4B. Micron lost $320M, or $0.42/share during fiscal year 2007. The company said results were "heavily influenced by industry supply/demand dynamics that depressed average selling prices for memory products." Sequential megabit sales of DRAM and NAND Flash increased 25% and 60%, respectively, but average selling prices for both fell about 15%. Micron said it took a $19M charge in fiscal Q4 for employee severance and related costs, as it continues to look for opportunities to lower overhead costs. Micron had $2.6B in cash and investments at the end of its fiscal year. Shares of Micron gained 3.9% to $11.79 during regular trading Tuesday, but gave back 3% to $11.44 in extended trading.

Sources: Press release, Bloomberg, MarketWatch
Commentary: Taiwan Semiconductor and Micron: After Hard Hits, Potential Upside ・A Look At Tech Stocks By Relative P/E and PEG ・DRAM Memory Vendors Headed For Trouble
Stocks/ETFs to watch: MU. Competitors: QI, SNDK, TOSBF.PK, SNE, Samsung [see iShares S. Korea (EWY)], STM, OVTI. ETFs: XSD, IGW, SMH
Earnings call transcript: Micron Technology F4Q07

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