Revenue nearly quintupled from a year earlier and guidance points to $61.5 billion next quarter, but a slightly softer margin outlook kept the reaction muted.
Micron Technology beat forecasts on its results and on its outlook. Investors responded with a shrug.
For its fiscal fourth quarter ended , the memory maker reported revenue of $54.23 billion, up from $41.46 billion in the prior quarter and $11.32 billion a year earlier. Adjusted earnings came to $33.42 a share. Analysts had expected $31.61 a share on revenue of $51.07 billion, putting the beat at about 6% on both lines.
The outlook was stronger still. Micron guided first-quarter fiscal 2027 revenue to $61.5 billion, plus or minus $1.5 billion, against analyst expectations near $57.02 billion. It forecast adjusted earnings of $38.15 a share, plus or minus $1, versus a consensus of about $35.14.
"Micron delivered record fiscal 2026 results, and we expect an even stronger fiscal 2027," Chief Executive Sanjay Mehrotra said.
The shares closed Wednesday's regular session at $1,065.11, before the release, and were up about 0.3% in overnight trading.
Where the growth came from
Every business unit grew, but data centers led. Revenue in the Core Data Center unit reached $18.0 billion, more than eleven times the $1.58 billion of a year earlier. Cloud Memory contributed $16.3 billion, Mobile and Client $13.1 billion and Automotive and Embedded $6.8 billion. Gross margins across the units ranged from 83% to 90%.
For the full fiscal year, revenue reached $133.19 billion, more than three and a half times the prior year's $37.38 billion.
The one soft spot
The guidance contained a single metric that came in below hopes. Micron expects an adjusted gross margin of about 86.25% next quarter, slightly below the roughly 87.0% it delivered in the fourth quarter and below the near-87% analysts had penciled in. In a business where pricing power is the whole thesis, even a fractional step back invites the question of whether memory prices are nearing a plateau.
A cash machine with a token dividend
The cash figures are extraordinary. Operating cash flow was $43.97 billion in the quarter and capital spending $10.77 billion, leaving adjusted free cash flow of $33.20 billion. That is about 61 cents of free cash for every dollar of revenue. Micron ended the year with $73.48 billion of cash and investments.
Yet the quarterly dividend stays at 15 cents a share, less than half of 1% of quarterly earnings per share. The gap between what Micron earns and what it returns to shareholders is enormous, and it puts the capital-allocation question at the center of the next leg of the story.
Why the reaction was muted
At a market value near $1.2 trillion, Micron already reflected much of the AI memory boom. A quarter that beats expectations by 6% may simply confirm what the price had already assumed. The sequential growth implied by guidance, about 13% at the midpoint, is also a slowdown from the 31% jump between the third and fourth quarters.
What to watch
The opening print on Thursday will show whether investors focus on the beat or the margin guide. Beyond that, any change to the dividend or a large buyback would signal how management plans to deploy a cash pile growing by more than $30 billion a quarter.