Corporate financial results hit Wall Street expectations | Calamatta Cuschieri

U.S. stock-market indexes closed slightly lower Tuesday as the House of Representatives passed a bill that would deliver sweeping corporate tax cuts, as expected.

The Dow Jones closed in negative territory -0.15%   after hitting an all-time high at the opening bell. The blue-chip index reached its 70th record close of 2017 on Monday, surpassing the 69 records made in 1995.

The real estate and utilities sectors were the big losers, falling nearly 2%.

Micron’s earnings well beat analysts’ expectations

Micron Technology Inc. climbed more than 4% in the extended session on Tuesday. The semiconductor company, known as memory-chip maker reported quarterly financial results that well beat Wall Street expectations.

The company reported fiscal first-quarter net income of $2.68 billion compared with $180 million in the year-ago period.

Micron Chief Executive Sanjay Mehrotra said cloud and traditional enterprise data-center growth is driving demand for DRAM chip, the largest part of Micron’s business.

DRAM, or dynamic random access memory, is the type of memory commonly used in PCs and servers, and NAND is the flash memory that is used in USB drives and smaller devices such as digital cameras.

Prices of DRAM and NAND memory chips have soared in the past year.

Micron said that DRAM sales accounted for 67% of revenue, up from 61% in the year-ago quarter, and that NAND sales accounted for 27% of revenue, down from 32% in the year-ago period.

For the second quarter, Micron estimates earnings of $2.51 to $2.65 a share on revenue of $6.8 billion to $7.2 billion. Analysts had estimated earnings of $2.04 a share on revenue of $6.24 billion.

FedEx stock rose on strong package volume

Package delivery company FedEx, on Tuesday, reported a higher quarterly net profit due to increased volume, but results were hit by lasting effects from a June cyber-attack on its Dutch TNT Express unit.

FedEx Chief Executive Officer, Fred Smith, said the company was seeing strong demand during the crucial peak holiday shipping season, which starts after the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday and extends through the New Year.

The company said that FedEx's results also reflect a tax benefit of approximately $80 million from foreign tax credits associated with a dividend paid from foreign operations, and a favorable net impact from fuel.

FedEx earned $755 million, or $2.84 a share, in the quarter, compared with $700 million, or $2.59 a share, in the year-ago period. Revenue rose to $16.3 billion in the quarter, from $14.9 billion a year ago.  Analysts had expected adjusted earnings of $2.73 a share on sales of $15.7 billion.

Disclaimer:

This article was issued by Linda De Luca, Trader at Calamatta Cuschieri. For more information visit, www.cc.com.mt. The information, view and opinions provided in this article is being provided solely for educational and informational purposes and should not be construed as investment advice, advice concerning particular investments or investment decisions, or tax or legal advice. Calamatta Cuschieri Investment Services Ltd has not verified and consequently neither warrants the accuracy nor the veracity of any information, views or opinions appearing on this website.