Micron Technology’s (MU) stock price rebounded sharply by over 8% in after-hours trading, following a 3% decline during the regular session. This dramatic swing was directly driven by the company’s release of its first-quarter financial results for fiscal year 2026, which comprehensively exceeded market expectations. Coupled with an exceptionally strong future performance outlook, these results have significantly boosted investor confidence.
The company’s revenue for the quarter reached $13.64 billion, a substantial year-over-year increase of 56.7%, significantly surpassing market expectations of $12.88 billion. The growth momentum was broad-based across all business segments, with the cloud storage business performing particularly well. Its sales surged by 99.5% year-over-year, making it a primary growth engine. Profitability was also strong, with adjusted diluted earnings per share (EPS) at $4.78, far exceeding analysts’ estimates of $3.94. Furthermore, the company generated $3.9 billion in free cash flow, setting a new quarterly historical record and demonstrating robust financial health.
Even more encouraging for the market was management’s outlook for the next quarter. The company expects second-quarter fiscal year 2026 revenue to be in the range of $18.3 billion to $19.1 billion, with a midpoint of $18.7 billion far exceeding market expectations of $14.38 billion. The guidance range for adjusted diluted EPS is $8.22 to $8.62, representing a several-fold increase compared to the same period last year ($1.56). This optimistic forecast for future growth was a key factor driving the sharp after-hours stock price surge. Company executives stated that, leveraging its technological strength and product portfolio, Micron Technology has become an indispensable key enabler within the artificial intelligence ecosystem.
Micron’s chips are core components in various devices, including data center servers, personal computers, smartphones, and automobiles. More importantly, the company is one of the world’s three major suppliers of High Bandwidth Memory (HBM), a critical component necessary for training and deploying generative AI models. Currently, demand for AI computing-related components is extremely strong, exceeding supply capacity. The company noted that customer AI data center construction plans are driving a sharp increase in forecasts for memory and storage demand. It anticipates that industry supply will remain below demand for the foreseeable future, with shortages in Random Access Memory (RAM) potentially becoming the new normal, thereby supporting product prices.
To meet the continuously growing demand, Micron Technology is actively advancing capacity expansion. The company’s new wafer fabrication facility under construction is progressing well and is expected to begin production in 2026 and 2027. Regarding High Bandwidth Memory, the HBM4 project is progressing smoothly, with yield improvements occurring faster than in the past, and production volumes are expected to increase from the second quarter onwards. The company’s CEO pointed out that even with manufacturing facilities operating at full capacity, it might still be difficult to meet the larger demand. Factors such as increased AI video production, the expansion of AI applications from training to inference, and the pursuit of greater memory capacity in smartphones and personal computers will continue to drive demand growth.
