(Bloomberg) -- Micron Technology Inc., the largest U.S. maker of memory chips, plunged in late trading after giving a lackluster forecast, a sign that booming demand for its computer and phone semiconductors may be waning.Sales will be about $7.65 billion in the period ending in November, Micron said Tuesday in a statement. That compares with an average analyst estimate of $8.57 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Excluding certain items, profit will be about $2 a share, compared with a projection of $2.56.
Most Read from Bloomberg
The Country That Makes Breakfast for the World Is Plagued by Fire, Frost and Drought
HSBC Bets Big on China as Pressure Mounts in London
How Los Angeles Became the City of Dingbats
Why the Gaza Strip May Be the City of the Future
The Rise of the Pandemic Dashboard
The dimmer outlook suggests that slowing demand among personal-computer makers is taking a toll.
The stock fell as much as 7% to $67.99 in extended trading following the announcement. It had been down 2.8% this year, compared with a 19% advance by the Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Index.
The memory chip industry is known for its dramatic boom-and-bust cycles, which make earnings hard to predict. But Micron Chief Executive Officer Sanjay Mehrotra has argued that the wild swings between shortages and gluts have moderated because a wider variety of devices use the company’s chips now.
Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek
A Tiny Piece of Plastic Is Helping Farmers Use Far Less Water
The Energy Future Needs Cleaner Batteries
Evergrande Debt Crisis Is Financial Stress Test No One Wanted
Microsoft and an Army of Tiny Telecoms Are Part of a Plan to Wire Rural America
In Amazon’s Flagship Fulfillment Center, the Machines Run the Show
©2021 Bloomberg L.P.
