Replies to post #42094 on S&P 500 & Nasdaq Analysis and Trends

[Stock]

I disagree in the very near term. So we'll just see who's right in a few days. If you are thinking some sort of sell off into January 19th, I'm not looking for that. But perhaps you are. Good luck!

[Stock]

UPDATE 3-Micron quarterly profit triples, shares rise
Thu Dec 21, 2006 7:24 PM ET



(Adds analyst comment, details)

By Scott Hillis

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec 21 (Reuters) - Micron Technology Inc. <MU.N> posted a bigger-than-expected quarterly profit on Thursday as the largest U.S. memory chip maker benefited from higher prices, sending its shares up nearly 4 percent.

Micron also saw a strong rise in its gross margins -- a key measurement of profitability -- that it attributed to its strategy of diversifying away from the volatile memory market into image sensors used in mobile phones and automobiles.

That shift has been questioned by Wall Street analysts in recent quarters as prices for memory chips found in personal computers have soared amid strong demand.

"I think this is an example where the balanced portfolio helped us a lot," Micron Chief Executive Steve Appleton told Reuters in an interview.

"We believe that the differential between us and the company we used to be -- which is the company a lot of our competitors still are -- we believe that differential will be a lot more visible in the future."

Micron competes with South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. <005930.KS>, Japan's Elpida Memory Inc. <6665.T> and Germany's Infineon Technologies <IFXGn.DE>.

For the fiscal first quarter ended Nov. 30, Micron's net profit was $192 million, or 25 cents per share, triple the $62.6 million, or 9 cents per share, a year earlier.

The Boise, Idaho-based company was expected to earn 21 cents per share, according to the average analyst forecast on Reuters Estimates.

Revenue rose 16 percent from a year earlier, to $1.58 billion, but was below the average estimate of $1.66 billion. Revenue from memory chips rose 15 percent from the previous quarter while that from image sensors rose 10 percent.

Gross margin rose to 31 percent from 24 percent the previous quarter.

"They did a nice job on execution, and gross margin was clearly better than people expected," said Douglas Freedman, an analyst with American Technology Research who upgraded Micron on Wednesday to "neutral" from "sell".

Micron shares rose 3.8 percent to $14.00 in extended trade after the results were released. Over the past year, the stock has fallen 4.6 percent.

Appleton said that the market for personal computer memory, which has boomed as PC makers stuff their products with more memory to handle Microsoft Corp.'s <MSFT.O> new Windows Vista operating system, would be weaker in the first quarter of the 2007 calendar year.

But he added: "We think overall '07 is going to be pretty good from everything we're hearing from the customer base. We don't see it collapsing".

Micron's major customers include Hewlett-Packard Co. <HPQ.N> for computers, Motorola Inc. <MOT.N> for cellphone cameras and Apple Computer Inc. <AAPL.O> for flash memory chips found in the iPod media players.

Micron would also start to benefit from its investments in NAND flash, the kind of memory chip found in devices such as digital music players and cameras. Micron and Intel Corp. <INTC.O>, the world's top chipmaker, announced a NAND joint venture a year ago and have been spending heavily to ramp up production.

"We've had all the expenses so far but relatively little output. That will benefit us mid- to late-07," Appleton said of the flash operations. "We think in terms of revenue we have a lot of upside."