Micron Profit Up 28%

(RTTNews) - Memory chip maker Micron Technology, Inc. (MU) said Wednesday after the markets closed that its second quarter profit rose 28% from last year, helped by higher sales and lower income tax expenses.

The company's quarterly earnings per share, excluding items, also came in above analysts' expectations as did its quarterly sales.

"Micron posted another solid quarter in our fiscal Q2 2015," said Micron CEO Mark Durcan. "We are pleased with our progress on technology and product migrations and remain confident in the performance of our business."

In memory chip market, Micron competes with industry leader Samsung and Hynix Semiconductor among others. Micron has expanded into a new area of the memory market known as NOR with its $1.2 billion acquisition of Numonyx. The July 2013 acquisition of Elpida Memory, Inc. helped increase Micron's global market share for DRAM chips, whcih are most widely used in personal computers. Micron also supplies NAND Flash memory chips, which are used in iPods, digital cameras and other portable devices.

The Boise, Idaho-based company reported net income for the second quarter of $934 million or $0.78 per share, compared to $731 million or $0.61 per for the year-ago quarter.

Excluding items, adjusted net income for the latest quarter was $941 million or $0.81 per share.

On average, 26 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to earn $0.73 per share for the second quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

This marks the company's eighth straight quarterly profit after a string of seven consecutive quarterly losses.

Gross margin for the first quarter improved 33.7% from 34.2% a year earlier.

Net sales for the second quarter rose 1.5% to $4.17 billion from $4.11 billion in the same quarter last year. Thirty analyst had a consensus revenue estimate of $4.15 billion for the second quarter.

During a conference call with analysts, Micron forecast third quarter revenue of $3.85 billion to $4.05 billion. Analysts currently expect the company to post revenue of $4.29 billion for the third quarter.

Micron shares are currently losing 1.58% in after hours trading after rising more than 5% initially. The shares, which have traded in a range of $21.02 to $36.59 over the past year, closed the day's regular trading session unchanged at $27.13.