Micron earnings beat view but revenues disappoint

SAN FRANCISCO - Micron Technology Inc <MU.N> reported lower-than-expected revenues as part of its 10th straight quarterly loss and shares of the top U.S. maker of memory chips slid more than 4 percent.

For its fiscal third quarter that ended June 4, the company had a net loss of $290 million, or 36 cents per share, compared to a net loss of $236 million, or 30 cents per share, a year earlier.

That was better than the loss of 41 cents a share expected on average by analysts, according to Reuters Estimates, but revenues fell to $1.11 billion from $1.5 billion a year ago, and below the $1.18 billion analysts had expected.

Micron said its memory chip production in the third quarter was "significantly higher" than in the preceding quarter.

Gross profit margins improved as Micron's cost of goods sold fell to $999 million from $1.45 billion due in part to a "significant" reduction in manufacturing costs per gigabit of memory, Micron said.

The Boise, Idaho-based company has been hurt in past quarters by a glut of DRAM, or dynamic random access memory, chips as demand for computers declined alongside a worldwide economic downturn.

Micron shares fell to $5.08 in after-hours trading after closing up 3.1 percent at $5.30 in regular-session trade on the New York Stock Exchange.

Shares in Micron have more than doubled since the start of the year, buoyed by hopes of a recovery in the embattled chip sector. Analysts have pointed to recent signs of recovering personal computer demand.

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