FILE PHOTO: Micron Technology’s solid-state drive for data center customers is presented at a product launch event in San Francisco, U.S., October 24, 2019. REUTERS/Stephen Nellis
(Reuters) – Micron Technology Inc beat analysts’ estimates for quarterly revenue and profit on Wednesday, benefiting from an uptick in demand for memory chips after a tepid year, sending its shares up nearly 4% in trading after the bell.
There has been an improvement in DRAM pricing, used in smartphones and laptops, with faster 5G phones and new gaming consoles expected to further run down the supply glut in 2020.
Data center operators are also looking to buy faster storage drives, a market where Micron and Intel Corp are competing for customers.
Chipmakers have faced harrowing 17 months as United States and China traded tariff blows that reduced access to the Chinese market – one of the largest for the U.S. companies.
On an adjusted basis, the company earned 48 cents per share compared with analysts’ estimates of 47 cents per share.
Net income attributable to the company fell to $491 million, or 43 cents per share, in the first quarter ended Nov. 28, from $3.29 billion, or $2.81 per share, a year earlier.
Revenue also fell to $5.14 billion from $7.91 billion, but beat estimates of $5.01 billion, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
Reporting by Neha Malara in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli