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Micron Technology Inc.

5/21/2013, 3:02 AM ET

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Thursday, May 16, 12:42 PM Tokyo's High Court has shot down appeals from disgruntled Elpida bondholders to overturn a district court's approval of Elpida's organization plan. The decision takes Micron (MU +2.3%) one step closer to acquiring Elpida: a U.S. bankruptcy court still has to sign off. Also: Digitimes reports specialty DRAM prices are due to rise another 10% in May, possibly due to SK Hynix's decision to allocate more capacity for mobile DRAM production - that market has been seeing enormous growth. Comment! [Tech]
Thursday, May 2, 12:46 PM Micron (MU -0.2%) is down slightly on an up day for tech after receiving a downgrade to Underperform by CLSA. The downgrade comes as Micron advances its enterprise ambitions by announcing a new PCI-Express flash module for servers and storage gear - like SanDisk (SNDK), Micron is counting on its ability to obtain NAND flash at cost to help stand out in a crowded market featuring Fusion-io (FIO), STEC, Intel, and Marvell, among others. Yesterday, Morgan Stanley reiterated an Overweight on Micron and SanDisk, arguing investment plans and equipment order activity indicate NAND capacity will remain tight in 2013. 4 Comments [Tech]
Wednesday, April 17, 5:37 PM SanDisk (SNDK) guides on its Q1 call (webcast) for Q2 revenue of $1.35B-$1.4B and 2013 revenue of $5.6B-$5.75B, largely above a consensus of $1.34B and $5.63B. Gross margin is expected to rise to 41%-43% in Q2, and 2013 gross margin guidance is now at 42%-44% (a 200 bps guidance hike). Q2 GM will benefit from higher prices and a weak yen, partly offset by lower royalties. SanDisk still forecasts 30%-40% NAND industry bit growth in 2013, and expects its own growth to be much lower, as it refrains from major capacity expansion. Shares now -0.6% AH. MU -0.4%. (previous) Comment! [Tech, Earnings, On the Move]
Wednesday, April 17, 4:46 PM SanDisk (SNDK) now -5.8% AH and Micron (MU) -1.5% following SanDisk's Q1 beat. Expectations were high following SanDisk's 2013 run-up. Also, given strong NAND flash pricing, the Street may have been looking for a bigger gross margin improvement - GM rose 60 bps Q/Q and 460 bps Y/Y to 40.5%. SanDisk says SSD products accounted for 20% of sales. R&D spending rose 21% Y/Y, as the company ramps investments in proprietary SSD and embedded mobile offerings. CC at 5PM ET (webcast), guidance should be provided. (PR) 1 Comment [Tech, On the Move, Earnings]
Wednesday, April 17, 2:23 PM Though Micron (MU -4.4%) and SanDisk (SNDK -4.2%) have joined a general rout in chip stocks and Apple suppliers, a report from Taiwan's Commercial Times indicates DRAM and NAND flash prices continue to trek higher (previous). Contract prices for mainstay 4GB DDR3 PC DRAM modules are said to have risen 8%-10% in early April, and contract prices for 32Gb (4GB) MLC NAND chips reportedly rose 5%-12%. Samsung (SSNLF.PK) is another beneficiary of this trend. SanDisk reports after the close. (Samsung's purchases) 1 Comment [Tech, On the Move]
Wednesday, April 17, 10:41 AM Intermolecular (IMI +10%) marches higher after announcing a multi-year technology development and IP licensing agreement with Micron Technology (MU) which will leverage IMI's HPC platform to "enhance novel materials development efforts." IMI calls the partnership a "significant milestone." 1 Comment [On the Move, Tech]
Friday, April 12, 12:54 PM Though Samsung (SSNLF.PK) is the world's biggest memory maker and a top LCD maker, the growing needs of its phone/tablet ops are forcing it to turn to 3rd-party suppliers. Digitimes reports Samsung has stepped up its purchases of mobile DRAM chips from Elpida and NAND flash products from Toshiba, and that the electronics giant is also buying 5.8" LCD panels from Taiwanese suppliers for its phablets. The implications for memory/LCD demand and pricing are a positive for rivals MU, SNDK, AUO, and LPL, and perhaps also glassmaker GLW and NAND controller supplier SIMO. 8 Comments [Tech]
Wednesday, April 10, 4:43 PM Global PC shipments fell 13.9% Y/Y in Q1 to 76.9M units, per IDC. That surpasses Q4's 6.4% drop and Q3's 8.6% decline, and is steep even in light of IDC's recent commentary. IDC: "It seems clear that the Windows 8 (MSFT) launch not only didn’t provide a positive boost to the PC market, but appears to have slowed the market." H-P (HPQ) was the market's leader, but its share fell 200 bps Y/Y to 15.7%. #2 Lenovo (LNVGY.PK) saw its share rise 210 bps to 15.3%, and #3 Dell's rose 40 bps to 11.8%. Apple's (AAPL) U.S. share rose 60 bps to 10%, though U.S. Mac shipments fell 7.5% to 1.4M. 33 Comments [Tech]
Monday, April 1, 11:42 AM Chip stocks underperform (SOXX -1.5%) after the SIA reports industry sales fell 8.9% M/M and 3.8% Y/Y in February. Bernstein points out the M/M drop is much worse than a 3.4% historical average. Microprocessor sales are estimated to have fallen 14% M/M, but the fact Intel (INTC -2%) and AMD (AMD -1.2%) no longer provide data to the SIA affects the reliability of that number. Memory sales (inc. DRAM and NAND) grew thanks to both higher bit shipments and prices. 1 Comment [Tech]
Monday, April 1, 10:13 AM Disgruntled Elpida creditors are appealing a Tokyo District Court's Feb. 28 approval of Micron's (MU -2%) purchase of the bankrupt Japanese DRAM maker. Micron, which still needs the Tokyo court to finalize its approval order and a Delaware bankruptcy court to sign off on the deal, says the appeal process will take roughly 3-4 months. (PR) 1 Comment [Tech, On the Move]
Friday, March 22, 10:20 AM Micron's (MU +10.5%) FQ2 beat, partly driven by 8% Q/Q NAND flash sales growth, provides a lift to SanDisk (SNDK +2%). Micron stated on its earnings call it sees "a favorable supply and demand balance" for NAND, thanks to strong SSD/mobile device demand and slowing manufacturing process shifts. Micron's trade NAND ASP was "relatively flat" in FQ2, and is estimated to be down mid-single-digits thus far in FQ3. Micron also forecasts DRAM industry capacity will fall in 2013 and 2014, and suggests it will shift some of its DRAM capacity to NAND. (previous) Comment! [Tech, On the Move, Earnings]
Friday, March 22, 9:10 AM Premarket gainers: HALO +23%. ANAC +18%. MU +9%. AFFY +8%. NKE +8%.
Losers: TIBX -16%. ABR -6%. ZIOP -5%. Comment! [On the Move]
Friday, March 22, 8:18 AM Micron (MU) now higher by 7.7% post-earnings as Jefferies raises its price target to a Street-high $15 from $10, while bumping its 2013 and 2014 EPS estimates to $0.48 (from -$0.20) and $2.57 (from $0.76), respectively. "We believe there is upside to our Street-high estimates." Credit Suisse raises its PT to $14 from $8, highlighting extremely favorable supply dynamics. Comment! [Tech, On the Move]
Thursday, March 21, 6:33 PM After-hours top gainers, as of 6:00 p.m.: NKE +8%. PCC +7%. ANAC +5%. MU +4%. GMO +3%.
After-hours top losers: NWY -18%. TIBX -14%. TECD -9%. SNMX -8%. EGHT -4%. 2 Comments [On the Move]
Thursday, March 21, 4:27 PM More on Micron: FQ2 EPS includes $182M in currency losses and asset write-downs; would be -$0.10 otherwise. DRAM sales +24% Q/Q, with a 38% increase in volume (partly thanks to the Inotera restructuring) offsetting a 10% ASP drop. That's encouraging investors worried about the impact of soft PC demand. NAND flash sales +8% Q/Q thanks to 13% growth in trade volume. NOR flash -14% Q/Q. Gross margin was 17.6%, up 580 bps Q/Q and 720 bps Y/Y - lower production costs cited. Opex -6% Y/Y vs. 3% rev. growth. MU +4.3% AH. CC at 4:30PM ET (webcast). (PR) 1 Comment [Tech, Earnings]
Thursday, March 21, 4:07 PM Micron (MU): FQ2 EPS of -$0.28 misses by $0.09. Revenue of $2.1B beats by $0.18B. Shares +5.8% AH. (PR) 2 Comments [Earnings, Breaking News, Tech, On the Move]

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