Pricing Woes May Hurt Q2 For Micron Technology

is faced with continued pricing problems and may offer results in a release slated for April 2, an analyst said Tuesday. Micron, off 23 percent since December, traded recently at $27.68, down 3 percent. Cleveland Research's Kevin Rottinghaus said the Boise, Idaho chip maker may have trouble meeting expectations for the second quarter. Its third-quarter guidance may also disappoint investors. Rottinghaus, who maintained a Neutral rating on Micron, forecast that third-quarter contract pricing for memory chips related to the personal computer industry will be off 22 percent from a year earlier. Server memory will be off "in the low to mid single digits" while strong sales of Samsung's newly launched Galaxy S6 smart phone will be needed to prevent oversupply in the market for mobile memory chips, Rottinghaus said. Looking into the second half of the year, "we're less convinced that mobile demand will be sufficient to drive pricing higher," Rottinghaus said.