MU earnings and guidance are strong; missing capex guidance is a key risk for near-term volatility.

Okay, let's get straight to it. We have achieved a significant improvement in earnings per share . Earnings per share reached $33.42 in the fourth quarter, better than the expected $31.83.

Looking at the revenue for this quarter , we also saw a significant outperformance of approximately $54.23, while expectations were around $51.5. Gross profit margins also came in better than expected at 87%. While expectations were at 86%.

Looking at the breakdown of their revenues, the revenues from the telephone and customer segment amounted to $13.11 billion. While expectations were at 12.95 billion. The automotive and embedded systems sector generated $6.82 billion in revenue.

This is much better than the 4.73 billion that was expected.

Cloud memory revenues reached $16.28 billion. While expectations were at 15.14 billion. So, he excelled in all the metrics I just mentioned. Now, looking at their future projections, they also come in above the consensus of analysts.

For the first quarter, they expect earnings per share to continue growing . The new range is between $37.15 and $39.15. The estimate was $36.02. Therefore, the estimate is well below this new range for earnings per share.

Regarding revenue, they expect between $60 billion and $63 billion. The estimate was 56.77 billion. This means exceeding these figures significantly.

Regarding margins, they expect around 86.3% for the first quarter. This represents a slight decrease in the margin, and a slight squeeze from the current 87%. Also, by a small margin, about 40 basis points lower than expected.

Also, we just got the data center revenue for this quarter, which came in at exactly $18 billion. The estimate was 11.34 billion. Their operating income reached $44.64 billion. While expectations were at 42.75 billion.

However, look at the screen and we are rising by a very small percentage above the break-even level . I agree with you. This is actually a very good report. The forward guidance is relatively strong.

I think the comment at the beginning of the report about investment is more about expanding their business, and I am simply paraphrasing what they said here . I think we haven't received capital spending guidance for the next phase.

I think this could be the biggest obstacle you might face.

Free cash flow may be affected if we see that capital expenditures will increase significantly in order for them to expand their productive capacity, so to speak, or to spend more to help expand that capacity.

But this is actually a very good report . Expectations were very high before this report was released, Marley. I had been monitoring the options flows prior to this, and the call options at 1300 and 1400 expiring this Friday were attracting significant attention.

We are talking about an upward movement of 30% to 40%.

So, I think the market really wanted to see a very strong upward reaction. But too much of this price premium could also lead to these traders being locked into trying to push prices down.

Therefore, this is within the expected range, at least for the time being. I am monitoring capital expenditures. It might be brought up in the group call if they discuss it. I think this is the only thing that might cause some volatility for this stock in post- closing trading.

I would like to read that comment that " KJ" just mentioned from the Chairman and CEO of Micron. He says that artificial intelligence is evolving into "superintelligence" ( SI), which Sam referred to earlier in the program.

Memory enhances this intelligence and increases the competitiveness of our clients' platforms . We are increasing our investments in technologies, products, and manufacturing to help drive hyperintelligence forward with our customers, and our strategic agreements with customers provide added confidence in the sustainability of Micron's financial performance.

He also talks about the record results they achieved in 2026 , but Sam, I mean, " KG" makes a good point. We do n't have a figure for capital expenditures here, so this may be part of what we're waiting for, but as soon as I read that to you, we're up by one percent now.

What are your conclusions from the conversations you've had throughout the week as we get closer to announcing these earnings? What were investors and analysts looking for ? The strategic customer agreements part was a major focus, and I was actually speaking to Paul Meeks earlier today, who has been covering this stock since its IPO in the 1980s, and he said we basically got some hints about that in the previous quarter: that 20 % of revenue comes from these long- term deals.

The company previously disclosed approximately 16 strategic agreements with clients. Paul wants to see if we can get a higher percentage because the company indicated it might exceed 20%.

He wants to know if the percentage exceeds 50%, that is, more than half of the total revenue.

He says that once Wall Street is convinced that businesses are leaning more towards long-term contracts, we may see a rise in valuations, because we know that it is currently trading at a futures price-to-earnings ratio of seven times, which is something we are constantly discussing.

But look, we knew without a doubt that the results would be good today, as you could have asked any analyst we spoke to on the show. It proves that it is an acyclical company, and how it has become less cyclical, as I was listening to the fact that this is the fourteenth quarter of the upward cycle.

It is usually eight to nine quarters . There doesn't seem to be any slowdown in spending on artificial intelligence, but it was also about profit margins.

This time it exceeded expectations by 87%. It was expected that the percentage would be higher than 86% . She's just wondering if the revised first-quarter figure she read, which came in slightly below expectations, is now under scrutiny only because the ceiling of expectations was so high.

Hey KGI, I was going to ask you this question. Do you have any concerns about the slight slowdown and margin squeeze they now expect for the first quarter compared to the 87% they achieved in the current fourth quarter?

They are giving guidance at 86.3 %, I believe, which was slightly lower than the 86.7% estimate. Is this enough to cause you concern?

I think it simply depends on what affects that margin. If they can justify it, the reason may be transportation costs, or perhaps problems with production capacity again, or they will pay a small additional premium .

It just depends . If they can justify it , I think the end result will be positive for them. Do you know?

I find this really interesting as well. Excellent report. The automotive sector is not a major news driver for this name. We know that. But if you look at their business in the automotive sector, it has exceeded Wall Street's expectations by about $2 billion. That was also a great addition.

If you exclude that and look at this sector coming in, let's say, in line with Wall Street's expectations, then in reality it wasn't a huge overshoot at the level of total revenues.

I'm not trying to belittle this company, but if you look at the total revenue as a whole, not all of that growth is really coming from data centers. In fact, much of that was also due to the automotive sector, which is something that no one notices, but I mean it represents sales of approximately $6.8 billion.

So that can make a tangible difference when you look at the overall figures.

Yes, we are seeing continued fluctuations around a stable level here for Micron. The biggest question mark remains over capital spending. Estimates range from $50 billion to $50 billion for what these projections could be, but we'll be hearing from the administration in about 20 minutes, and hopefully they will disclose that figure.

But right now, Micron shares are trading down about 10 percent after having been up as much as 1 percent.