Micron Shares Down After Posting 2Q Loss

Shares of Micron Technology (Nasdaq: MU), the only U.S. maker of memory chips, eased 2.4 percent in pre-market activity after the company reported a second-quarter loss as revenue fell nearly 9 percent.

At the close, shares of the Boise, Ida., maker of dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) chips fell 31 cents, to $8.40, for a 3.5 percent loss. Still, they've risen more tghan 33 percent in 2012.

Micron CEO Steve Appleton. 51, was killed in a Feb. 1 plane crash and succeeded by Chief Operating Office Mark Durcan, also 51, who'd planned to retire.

Micron reported a net loss of $224 million, or 23 cents a share, reversing prior-year net income of 72 million, or 7 cents, for the quarter ended Feb. 1. Revenue fell to $2.1 billion.

Last month, Micron and its partner, Intel (Nasdaq: INTC), the world's biggest chipmaker, announced a reorganization of their six-year-old IM Flash Technologies joint-venture for flash memory chips, the thinner, credit-card sized DRAM products more suited to mobile products like smartphones and tablets.

Micron hasn't seen any benefits from the deal yet, Durcan said on an investor call Thursday night. We're quite happy with the design and demand for new NAND flash chips that are part of the deal, he said. He said NAND prices should rise over the next few months as new products are introduced from PC and tablet makers.

Durcan and other Micron executives said the company expects better performance in the second half but declined to offer an earnings forecast.

Micron's biggest Japanese rival, Elpida Memory, filed for bankruptcy last month.