Micron Technology Inc.’s revenue dropped 47% in its fiscal first quarter, and management projected that the decline would worsen to more than 50% in the second quarter as layoffs are planned.
Micron
MU,
reported a loss of $195 million, or 18 cents a share, versus net income of $2.31 billion, or $2.04 a share, in the year-ago period. The adjusted loss, which exclude stock-based compensation expenses and other items, was 4 cents a share, versus adjusted earnings of $2.18 a share in the year-ago period.
Revenue fell to $4.09 billion from $7.69 billion in the year-ago quarter. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had forecast an adjusted loss of 2 cents a share on revenue of $4.13 billion.
For the fiscal second quarter, Micron said it expects an adjusted loss of between 72 cents and 52 cents a share on revenue of $3.6 billion to $4 billion, with the midpoint 51% lower than last year’s second-quarter revenue total of $7.78 billion. Analysts had forecast an adjusted loss of 32 cents a share on revenue of $3.92 billion.
In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the memory-chip specialist disclosed that management plans to cut about 10% of staff in 2023, “through a combination of voluntary attrition and personnel reductions.” About $30 million in restructuring costs are expected, all in the fiscal second quarter.
“Micron’s strong technology, manufacturing and financial position put us on solid footing to navigate the near-term environment, and we are taking decisive actions to cut our supply and expenses,” said Sanjay Mehrotra, Micron’s chief executive, in a statement. “We expect improving customer inventories to enable higher revenue in the fiscal second half, and to deliver strong profitability once we get past this downturn.”
Micron specializes in DRAM, or dynamic random access memory, the type of memory commonly used in PCs and servers, and NAND chips, which are the flash memory chips used in smaller devices like smartphones and USB drives.
Micron shares were down less than 1% after hours, following a 1% rise to close the regular session at $51.19. Micron shares are down 45% for the year compared with a 19% fall by the S&P 500 index
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and a 32% drop by the Nasdaq Composite Index
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and a 33% drop on the PHLX Semiconductor Index
SOX,
