Reuters
Micron Technology stock tumbled Thursday after the company gave disappointing guidance and warned of weakness in consumer chip markets.
The chipmaker's shares fell 17% in morning trading to about $85.77 per share.
Micron's slide comes after the company reported strong earnings, including an 84% rise in revenue to $8.71 billion for the quarter, meeting analysts' expectations. Earnings per share came in at $1.79, slightly above expectations for $1.75.
The company's data center business, meanwhile, increased 46% for the quarter and now comprises over half of its total sales.
Micron also projected higher-than-expected growth in its server-unit shipments for the year amid a boom in AI and updates to its traditional servers.
The chipmaker's forward guidance, though, failed to impress investors.
The company said it expects revenue of around $7.9 billion, coming in below expectations of $8.98 billion, according to analysts surveyed by LSEG. It forecasts adjusted earnings per share of about $1.43, below analysts' expectations of $1.91.
The company cited weakness in its consumer chips business as consumers hold off on updating their personal computers and auto sales come in under forecasts.
"This was not much of a Holiday gift for investors. Guidance was below even the most bearish bogeys we heard into the report, with the company citing ongoing malaise in consumer markets," analysts from UBS said in a Thursday note.
The company expects to stage a rebound in its consumer markets in the second half of the financial year, though.
"While consumer-oriented markets are weaker in the near term, we anticipate a return to growth in the second half of our fiscal year," CEO Sanjay Mehrotra said in a press release. "We continue to gain share in the highest margin and strategically important parts of the market and are exceptionally well positioned to leverage AI-driven growth to create substantial value for all stakeholders."
Bank of America analysts downgraded their rating on the stock to neutral after the earnings report, lowering their price target to $110 from $125, citing slower gross margin expansion.
"Historically the stock has struggled to outperform when GM expansion has remained muted, leading to our stock downgrade to Neutral from Buy, even though we still feel positive about MU's position in the HBM/AI market," the analysts said in a Thursday note.
UBS analysts also trimmed their price target from $135 to $125 but said the dip could be a buying opportunity with some bright spots ahead, like a broadening customer base for its high-bandwidth memory chip.
