Shares plunge

Micron Technology (MU) shares fell sharply after the company reported a record quarter but gave a forecast well below and worse than analysts' expectations. Wall Street experts pointed out the problems and lowered their target prices for Micron shares.

Memory chip maker Micron Technology (MU) on Tuesday reported its fourth quarter and full fiscal 2021 results, which ended on 31 August.

While the results were strong, the company gave a significantly lower first-quarter outlook, saying it expects a recovery only in the second half of fiscal 2022. 2022.

Micron shares, which have shown strong gains since late 2020/early 2021, fell 2.77% on Tuesday.

As a result, Micron's share price is down 2.77% since the beginning of 2021. At the same time, the stock was affected by a general strong market decline, especially in technology stocks, due to rising yields on 10-year treasury bonds in the US. The Nasdaq Composite closed with a 2.8 per cent drop on Tuesday.

The PHLX Semiconductor Index (SOX) is up 18.6% YTD, while the S&P 500 Index is up 16% over the same period.

Micron said it expects sales to slow as its personal computer customers face a shortage of other components.

Micron Technology's Q4 and full year 2021 report

Micron's Q4 total revenues were a record for the past three years, up 37% from the same quarter a year ago to $8.27 billion. The figure was above market analysts' average forecasts of $8.23 billion.

Earnings per share rose 124% to $2.42, also above Wall Street estimates of $2.33. Micron's quarterly revenue and earnings statistics show growth in 2018 and a slowdown in 2019 and 2020.

The year 2021 was a record year for Micron thanks to a rise in memory chip prices on the back of the COVID-19 pandemic. Annual sales jumped to $27.71bn from $21.44bn in the previous financial year, while profits more than doubled to $5.86bn from $2.69bn.

The company also said it plans to pay its first dividend of 10 cents per share next month to shareholders of record as of October 1.

Thanks to its strong cash reserves, Micron has also planned capital expenditure of between $11bn and $12bn in fiscal 2022.

Micron's Q1 fiscal 2022 forecasts

The chipmaker is forecasting Q1 earnings of $2 to $2.20 per share on sales of $7.45 to $7.85 billion, while analysts are averaging estimates of $2.53 earnings per share on revenues of $8.54 billion.