Micron Results Top Estimates

(RTTNews) - Memory chip maker Micron Technology, Inc. (MU) said Monday after the markets closed that its third quarter profit rose sharply from last year, as sales jumped 72% and gross margin improved sharply thanks to its July 2013 acquisition of Elpida Memory, Inc.

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

Micron shares are currently losing 0.99% in after hours trading after closing the day's regular trading session at $31.26, down 59 cents or 1.85%. The shares trade in a 52-week range of $12.31 to $323.43.

The Boise, Idaho-based company reported net income for the third quarter of $806 million or $0.68 per share, compared to $43 million or $0.04 per share for the year-ago quarter.

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

Excluding items, adjusted net income for the latest quarter was $913 million or $0.79 per share.

On average, 26 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to earn $0.70 per share for the third quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Gross margin for the third quarter improved 34.4% from 24.0% a year earlier.

Net sales for the third quarter jumped 72% to $3.98 billion from $2.32 billion in the same quarter last year. Twenty-eight analysts had a consensus revenue estimate of $3.89 billion for the third quarter.

The company said third quarter revenues for both DRAM and NAND Flash products were down slightly from the second quarter level.

DRAM chips are most widely used in personal computers, while NAND Flash memory chips are used in iPods, digital cameras and other portable devices.

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 latest acquisition of Elpida helped increase Micron's global market share for DRAM chips.