Micron sees chip profit

March 21, 2001: 5:43 p.m. ET

Compay says semiconductor unit was profitable; postpones results

NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Micron Technology said Wednesday its semiconductor operations managed to turn an operating profit during its fiscal second quarter, but it postponed its official earnings release until next week.

In a brief statement issued after the close of trading Wednesday, the Boise, Idaho-based company, a leading supplier of computer memory chips, said revenue from its semiconductor operations totaled $1.05 billion in the quarter that ended March 1.

The company also said "semiconductor pre-tax results of operations were slightly profitable" in the quarter. It did not provide an earnings-per-share figure for the quarter.

Analysts polled by earnings tracker First Call had expected Micron (MU: Research, Estimates) to post a second-quarter operating loss of a penny per share on total sales of $1.37 billion.

Micron Technology said it expects to report its quarterly results early next week. The company did not provide a specific day on which it expects to release the numbers.

At the same time, the company said that Micron Electronics, its majority-owned subsidiary that operates Web hosting services and makes PC hardware, would not report its latest quarterly results until Friday.

Both companies were scheduled to report their latest quarterly results on Wednesday.

The Street currently is expecting Micron Electronics (MUEI: Research, Estimates) to post an operating profit of 2 cents per share, according to a First Call survey.

Shares of Micron Technology rose $1.41 to $42.01 in New York Stock Exchange trade Wednesday. At the same time, Micron Electronics shares fell 16 cents to $3.19 on Nasdaq.