Micron (MU) is scheduled to report results of its fiscal fourth quarter after the market close on September 29, with a conference call scheduled for 4:30 pm ET. What to watch for:
1. GUIDANCE: Along with its last report, Micron guided for Q4 earnings per share of 95c-$1.15 on revenue of $5.75B-$6.25B. The company later confirmed during comments at Keybanc's Virtual Future of Technology Series Conference in August that it still expects Q4 revenue to be in that range. When Micron first provided guidance, analysts were expecting it to report Q4 EPS of 81c on revenue of $5.47B, but those figures have since risen to 99c and $5.89B, respectively.
2. CHINA: Earlier this month, Bloomberg reported that China was planning comprehensive policies to bolster its domestic semiconductor industry in a retaliatory move to counter the Trump administration's restrictions. At the time, leaders in China were "preparing broad support "for third-generation" semiconductors through 2025, according to Bloomberg. That same week, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission released the results of its efforts to identify use of Huawei and ZTE (ZTCOY) equipment and services in U.S. telecommunications networks that receive support from the federal Universal Service Fund. The FCC said that U.S. telecom networks need $1.84B to remove and replace Huawei and ZTE equipment in their networks. The Fly notes that Micron is a Huawei supplier.
3. SIA: In mid-September, the Semiconductor Industry Association, or SIA, released a report saying that the U.S. government "has a strategic opportunity to reverse the decades-long trajectory of declining chip manufacturing in America, strengthen national security and make our supply chains more resilient, and make our country one of the most attractive places in the world to produce semiconductors, which are the brains of modern technology." The report noted that, if the federal government wants to "seize this opportunity," it must "invest boldly in chip manufacturing incentives" to make the U.S. more competitive with countries that have offered "robust" incentives for years. Federal manufacturing grants and tax breaks totaling $20-50B would reposition the U.S. from an unattractive investment destination to the most attractive, excluding China, and create as many as 19 new major semiconductor manufacturing facilities, fabs, in the U.S. over the next 10 years, a 27% increase over the current number of U.S. commercial fabs, said the report from the SIA.
4. PC MARKET: Q2 of 2020 ended well for the Traditional PC market, comprised of desktops, notebooks, and workstations, with global shipments growing 11.2% year over year reaching a total of 72.3M units, according to preliminary results from the International Data Corporation Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker released in early July. s restrictions around the world tightened in the first few weeks of the quarter, demand for notebooks continued to grow to maintain continuity of business and schooling for many communities. Despite logistics issues early in the quarter, the cost and frequency of both air and sea freight inched closer to normal, the IDC said.
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