Micron also saw a strong rise in its gross margins that it attributed to its strategy of diversifying away from the volatile memory market into image sensors used in mobile phones and automobiles.

That shift has been questioned by Wall Street analysts in recent quarters as prices for memory chips found in personal computers have soared amid strong demand.

"I think this is an example where the balanced portfolio helped us a lot," Micron Chief Executive Steve Appleton told Reuters in an interview.

"We believe that the differential between us and the company we used to be - which is the company a lot of our competitors still are - we believe that differential will be a lot more visible in the future."

For the fiscal first quarter ended Nov. 30, Micron said its net profit was $192 million, or 25 cents per share, more than triple the $62.6 million, or 9 cents per share, a year earlier.

The Boise, Idaho-based company was expected to earn 21 cents per share, according to the average analyst forecast on Reuters Estimates.

Revenue rose 16 percent from a year earlier, to $1.58 billion, but was below the average Wall Street estimate of $1.66 billion.

Still, Micron shares rose 3.8 percent to $14 in extended trade after the results were released. Over the past year, the stock has fallen 4.6 percent.

Revenue for memory chips rose 15 percent from the previous quarter while that for its image sensors rose 10 percent.

Appleton said that the market for personal computer memory, which has boomed as PC makers stuff their products with more memory to handle Micronsoft's new Windows Vista operating system, would be weaker in the first quarter of the 2007 calendar year.

"We think overall '07 is going to be pretty good from everything we're hearing from the customer base. We don't see it collapsing," Appleton said.

By: DocMemory
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