Micron posts $54.2 billion quarter and guides to $61.5 billion; its customers prepaid $12.7 billion

Micron Technology reported fiscal fourth-quarter revenue of $54.23 billion on Wednesday, up from $41.46 billion in the prior quarter and $11.32 billion a year earlier, according to its results filed with the SEC. GAAP net income was $37.70 billion, or $32.87 a share, and non-GAAP earnings were $33.42 a share. For the first quarter of fiscal 2027 it guided to revenue of $61.5 billion, plus or minus $1.5 billion, and non-GAAP earnings of $38.15 a share, plus or minus $1.00.

Both numbers beat Wall Street. CNBC reported that analysts polled by LSEG expected $51.07 billion of revenue for the quarter, and $57 billion with $35.40 a share for the current one. The stock closed at $1,065.11, unchanged on the day, and traded at $1,068.12 after the release at 4:52 p.m. Eastern, up 0.3%, according to Nasdaq. Its market value is about $1.2 trillion, and it trades 15% below its 52-week high of $1,255.

This quarter was a week longer

The period dates in Micron's own tables show something the headline numbers do not. Fiscal 2026 ran from Aug. 28, 2025, to Sept. 3, 2026, which is 371 days, or 53 weeks. The extra week landed in the fourth quarter, which ran from May 28 to Sept. 3: 98 days, or 14 weeks. The year-earlier fourth quarter was 91 days.

That changes how the guidance reads. Taken at face value, $61.5 billion is 13% more than $54.23 billion, a sharp slowdown from the 31% jump between the third and fourth quarters. Measured per week, it is not. The fourth quarter brought in about $3.87 billion a week. If the first quarter runs the usual 13 weeks, $61.5 billion works out to about $4.73 billion a week, roughly 22% higher. The low end of the range, $60 billion, would still be about 19% higher per week.

Price, not volume

The income statement shows where the money came from. Cost of goods sold was $7.18 billion, up 15% from $6.26 billion a year earlier, even with the extra week. Revenue rose 379% over the same comparison. Of the $42.9 billion added to quarterly revenue, $42.0 billion, or 98%, went straight to gross profit. The gross margin was 86.8%, against 44.7% a year ago.

When revenue rises that much and costs barely move, the gains come from selling memory at much higher prices, not from making much more of it. That is the shortage CNBC described: demand for high-bandwidth memory used in AI servers has run ahead of what Micron and its two South Korean rivals can build. It also means the earnings depend on memory prices staying high. The company's Core Data Center unit grew to $18.0 billion from $1.58 billion a year earlier, with a 90% gross margin.

Customers are paying in advance

The balance sheet has a new line worth watching. Noncurrent customer contract liabilities rose to $12.90 billion at Sept. 3 from $568 million at the end of May. The cash flow statement shows $12.75 billion of "proceeds from customer contract liability deposits" for the year, against none the year before. Chief executive Sanjay Mehrotra pointed to Micron's "Strategic Customer Agreements" as added confidence that results will last.

In plain terms, buyers handed Micron deposits equal to nearly a quarter of a quarter's sales, most of it in the last three months, tied to future supply. For investors that is evidence of how tight supply is. For smaller buyers without long-term agreements, such as system builders and IT resellers, it means the largest customers have secured their share first, which is one reason memory and PC prices have risen.

Micron ended the year with $73.48 billion of cash and investments and $5.18 billion of debt. Capital spending was $27.37 billion net for the year, and it declared a quarterly dividend of $0.15 a share.

Earlier today we set out what the options market priced for Micron's report: a move of about 7.6%. The after-hours reaction so far is far smaller.

Sources: Micron fourth-quarter and fiscal 2026 results, Exhibit 99.1 to Form 8-K, via SEC EDGAR; CNBC (LSEG estimates); Nasdaq. Quarter lengths, per-week revenue and cost ratios are our calculations from the filing. This is market information, not investment advice.