BOISE: Micron shares dropped more than 9 percent in extended trading after the semiconductor company posted lower-than-expected quarterly sales and announced it was cutting jobs.
The company posted third-quarter loss per share of 8 cents, compared to earnings of 54 cents a share in the year-earlier period. Revenue for the quarter came in at $2.90 billion, against the comparable year-ago figure of $3.85 billion.
Analysts had expected a loss of 9 cents per share on revenues of $2.96 billion, according to a Thomson Reuters consensus estimate.
“We continue to face challenging market conditions,” CEO Mark Durcan said in a news release. “To address the current market environment and strengthen our competitive position, we are implementing a number of initiatives to reduce costs, drive greater efficiencies, and increase focus on our strategic priorities.”
Micron announced a workforce reduction and other cost-slashing measures aimed at saving over $300 million in the 2017 fiscal year, as increased sales of the company’s direct random-access memory products failed to offset a dip in sales of non-volatile products.
The company’s overall consolidated gross margins hit 17 percent, down 3 percent quarter-over-quarter due to lower selling prices. Though Micron wants to make sure its guidance is achievable going forward, Durcan said, there are encouraging signs in the transition to better margins.
“We’ve got a lot of good tailwinds,” Durcan said on a Thursday afternoon conference call. “We do believe that you’ll see progress relative to our competition on how our margins move.”
