BOISE -- After three years of losses, one of Idaho's largest employers posted a profit.
Micron says it is now poised for a bright future.
It's certainly good riddance to the recent past. What's widely considered a historic low for the semi-conductor industry business and now, what appears to be a bright light at the end of the tunnel.
It's been almost exactly one year since we last heard from Micron CEO Steve Appleton.
It's been a tough year, which included continuing quarterly losses, continued layoffs and the closure of Micron's memory fabrication facility.
But, Appleton says the tide is finally turning. For the first time in three years, the company reported a profit.
"The year has contained a lot,” Appleton said. “Clearly the world has gone through quite a transition, and Micron itself has gone through quite a transition. I think that I would characterize it as a difficult year, but it did culminate into where we are today."
Shareholders are starting to see gains as well. One year ago today, Micron's stock closed at $2.61. This afternoon, stock was getting back to numbers not seen since late 2007 when Micron stock closed at $9.36 a share.
But does one quarter really signal an upswing?
"We obviously have made it through,” Appleton said. “You can't take a one quarter metric and claim victory and Micron is in no way, form or shape claiming victory. But we are claiming we survived.”
Industry-wide, the 2nd quarter is usually the weakest of the year, but already it is looking strong, so there is a lot of optimism within Micron.
“We can only be as good as the economy is and the economy right now is still struggling in many ways,” Appleton said. “But because we survived what would be considered the most brutal period in the history of the memory business, we are a beneficiary of the fact that there are just less competitors in the world."
For the first quarter of fiscal 2010, the company had net income attributable to Micron shareholders of $204 million, or $0.23 per diluted share, on net sales of $1.74 billion. These results compare to a loss of $100 million, or $0.12 per diluted share, on net sales of $1.3 billion for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2009 and a loss of $718 million, or $0.93 per diluted share, on net sales of $1.4 billion for the first quarter of fiscal 2009.
Governor Butch Otter is congratulating Micron for their profits.
"This is good news not just for Micron and the thousands of Idahoans it employs, but for the Treasure Valley and all of Idaho's economy,” Otter said. "Given this kind of performance, I'm confident that Micron will continue to be a great corporate citizen for many years to come."
