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Micron (MU) Beats on Top & Bottom Lines, Shares Up

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American memory and storage tech firm Micron (MU - Free Report) has released fiscal Q4 2018 (ended August) earnings after Thursday's closing bell, with typically positive results: earnings of $3.53 per share easily beat the Zacks consensus of $3.32, with year-over-year earnings growth up 75%. Quarterly sales posted $8.44 billion, which is not only well above the estimated $8.25 billion but even higher than the top on the previously guided revenue range of $8.4 billion.

Gross margins in the quarter reached 61%, near the top of that guidance range. In terms of earnings results, this marks the 13th straight positive surprise -- you need to go back to fiscal Q3 2015 for the last time Micron missed expectations. After hours, MU shares are trading up 2+%.

However, the stock is still down more than 20% since this past spring, and part of this has to do with NAND and DRAM businesses -- at which Micron excels -- is losing steam. So while Micron itself is bringing in 50% more revenues from the year-ago quarter, investors don't currently have much faith in the company's overall business environment. Prior to its earnings report, Micron carried a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell) with a Zacks Style Score (Value - Growth - Momentum) of A. For more on MU's earnings, click here.

The company's conference call, scheduled to get underway a few minutes from now, will be crucial to the fortunes of this stock going forward. Guidance will play a critical role in where Micron -- an its sub-industries -- can be expected to go from here. Right now, the company estimates $2.88 per share for its November (Q1 2019) quarter, and $8.35 billion on the top line.

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