DECEMBER 29--Micron Technology (Boise, ID, USA; www.micron.com), a manufacturer of semiconductor devices, reported first-quarter results, posting earnings that jumped three times year-over-year on rise in revenues, especially from memory and imaging products. Earnings per share improved from the prior year and beat analysts' consensus estimate. The company said first-quarter net income soared to $192 million or $0.25 per share on 786 million shares, from $63 million or $0.09 per share on 759 million shares. On average, 22 analysts polled by First Call/Thomson Financial expected the company to earn $0.20 per share for the quarter.
Operating income jumped to $187 million from $62 million in the prior year. Gross margin for the quarter advanced to $490 million from $311 million in the year-ago period.
Revenue for memory and imaging products grew 15% and 10%, respectively, in the just concluded quarter, compared to the previous year. The company's memory chips and image sensors are used in personal computers, workstations, mobile phones, flash memory cards, digital still cameras, and MP3 players.
Average selling price for dynamic random access memory or DRAM products increased moderately, compared to the fourth quarter of fiscal 2006 mainly due to price increases for DDR and DDR2 DRAM products. The company realized improvements in gross margins for Core DRAM, Specialty DRAM and NAND Flash memory products and maintained gross margins on sales of CMOS Image sensors.
