Micron Technology is in the 'sweet spot' of digital transformation, CEO says

Memory and storage are integral to digital transformation, which will serve as a key business driver for Micron Technology through 2022, the memory-chip producer’s CEO Sanjay Mehrotra told CNBC Friday.

While enterprise adoption of digital technology was accelerated by the workplace shift due to the coronavirus pandemic, Mehrotra projects that the need for faster data processing will be critical for future expansion of global economies.

“We are absolutely in a sweet spot of the market trends and we are very well positioned to address them,” he said in a “Mad Money” interview with Jim Cramer.

The comments come one day after the Boise, Idaho-based company released better-than-expected results in its first quarter of the 2021 fiscal year. Micron earnings came in at 78 cents per share, 7 cents above estimates, on revenue of $5.77 billion, up 12% from a year ago. Analysts projected revenue of $5.66 billion for the quarter ending Dec. 3.

Micron also cited the state of the dynamic random access memory chips (DRAM) market as a source of its upbeat guidance for the current quarter. The DRAM business, which supplies chips to store data in a memory cell, grew almost 17%.

At a time where demand for artificial intelligence, 5G and cloud, which all require more data processing, is high, the memory industry is experiencing tightness in areas of the DRAM market, according to Mehrotra.

Micron counts Arrow Electronics, HP, Apple and Huawei among its customers, according to FactSet.

“For the first time in the history of the company, Micron is leading the industry in DRAM technology and as well as the NAND technology,” Mehrotra said in the interview Friday. “We are absolutely excited about 2021 and post-Covid. The synchronized expansion of the global economies is going to continue well into 2022 timeframe as well.”

Shares of Micron slipped 2% to close at $77.42 after trading at session high price levels not seen since 2000. The stock gained nearly 40% in 2020.