Micron Technology Inc (NASDAQ:MU) stock rallies 10.78% (As on December 18, 11:25:48 AM UTC-4, Source: Google Finance) after the company beat Wall Street expectations for sales and earnings per share, and provided a strong forecast for the current quarter. Micron had $5.24 billion of net income during the first quarter versus $1.87 billion in the year-ago period. Micron said it did $5.28 billion in cloud memory sales, which doubled on an annual basis. The chipmaker reported $2.38 billion in core data center sales, up only 4% year-over-year. The company said both business units were driven by higher pricing. Earlier this month, Micron said it would stop selling memory and other parts directly to consumers, to preserve supply for AI chips and data centers. The company generated operating cash flow of $8.41 billion versus $5.73 billion for the prior quarter and $3.24 billion for the same period last year. For the first quarter of 2026, investments in capital expenditures, net were $4.5 billion and adjusted free cash flow was $3.9 billion. Micron ended the year with cash, marketable investments, and restricted cash of $12.0 billion.
Moreover, the 1 gamma DRAM node is ramping well. 1 gamma will be the primary driver of the DRAM bit growth in calendar 2026 and will be the majority of the bit output in the second half of the calendar year.
MU in the first quarter of FY26 has reported the adjusted earnings per share of $4.78, beating the analysts’ estimates for the adjusted earnings per share of $3.95, according to LSEG consensus estimates. The company had reported the adjusted revenue growth of 57 percent to $13.64 billion in the first quarter of FY26, beating the analysts’ estimates for revenue of $12.84 billion.
Additionally, the company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.115 per share, payable in cash on January 14, 2026, to shareholders of record as of the close of business on December 29, 2025.
In the second quarter, Micron said it expected about $18.70 billion of revenue in the current quarter, versus $14.20 billion expected by LSEG. It said adjusted earnings per share would be about $8.42, blowing away expectations of $4.78 per share.
In addition, the company has completed agreements on price and volume for the entire calendar 2026 HBM supply, including Micron’s industry-leading HBM4. The company forecast an HBM TAM CAGR of approximately 40% through calendar 2028, from approximately $35 billion in 2025 to around $100 billion in 2028. This $100 billion HBM TAM milestone is now projected to arrive two years earlier than in the prior outlook.