SAN FRANCISCO—Memory chip vendor Micron Technology Inc. recorded its first profit in three years during the period ended Dec. 3, topping Wall Street's expectations with sales of $1.74 billion, the company said Tuesday (Dec. 22). 
Sales increased by 33 percent compared to the previous quarter and by 24 percent compared to the year-ago quarter, Micron (Boise, Idaho) said. Analysts had projected, on average, that Micron's revenue for the quarter would be $1.6 billion, according to Yahoo Finance.
Micron reported a profit of $204 million, or 23 cents per share for the quarter, the first quarter of the company's fiscal year 2010. This compares to losses of $100 million and $718 million, respectively, for the previous and year-ago quarters.
It was Micron's first profitable quarterly report in more than three years, since the first quarter of fiscal 2007, which closed Nov. 30, 2006.
"We realize there are still challenges in the global economy, but our team members deserve a lot of credit for generating positive operating cash flow throughout the downturn," said Steve Appleton, Micron Chairman and CEO, in a statement.
DRAM revenue increased 50 percent quarter-to-quarter due to a 25 percent increase in sales volume and a 21 percent increase in average selling prices (ASPs), Micron said. NAND flash revenue was up 21 percent sequentially due to a 16 percent increase in sales volume and a 5 percent increase in ASPs, the company said.
Micron's gross margin on sales of memory products improved from 12 percent in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2009 to 27 percent in the first quarter of fiscal 2010 due primarily to the increases in ASPs, the company said.