By Noel Randewich
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Memory chip maker Micron Technology Inc posted a fiscal second-quarter net profit, compared with a loss a year earlier, helped by a strong recovery in chip prices and sending its stock higher.
The company on Thursday reported a net profit of $731 million, or 61 cents per share, in the quarter ended February27, compared with a loss of $286 million, or 28 cents, a year earlier. Excluding items, Micron earned 85 cents per share.
Revenue rose 98 percent to $4.11 billion. Analysts an average expected revenue of $3.985 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Prices for DRAM chips made by Micron, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix have bounced back from a deep memory chip price slump in 2012 that led some chipmakers to throttle back production.
Micron's stock has surged over 160 percent in the past 12 months, helped by the recovery in memory chip prices as well as news in November that David Einhorn's hedge fund Greenlight Capital had invested in the company.
Shares of Micron rose 4.17 percent in extended trade after closing down 1.44 percent at $24.
(Reporting by Noel Randewich; Editing by Bernard Orr)
