The stock market has been especially volatile in September, and the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC 1.59%) has seen more than its share of ups and downs. With macroeconomic factors potentially having an outsize impact on the high-growth stocks that make up so much of the Nasdaq, many expect the volatility to continue. After a drop of nearly 3% on Tuesday, the Nasdaq looked set to rebound Wednesday morning, with futures up 116 points, or 0.8%, to 14,881.
A couple of Nasdaq stocks were especially noteworthy heading into Wednesday's session. Micron Technology (MU 6.68%) reported its latest earnings on Tuesday afternoon, and many investors have tracked the situation in the memory chip market to see whether shortages would finally show signs of easing up. Meanwhile, in the electric vehicle space, Lucid Group (LCID 0.71%) has ridden a bumpy road lately, but its stock bounced back sharply on Wednesday morning on promising news for its future. Below, we'll take a closer look at both.
Image source: Lucid Motors.
Micron rides the wave
Micron Technology looked like its stock would likely miss out on the bounce in the broader market. After declining almost 3% in the regular session on Tuesday, Micron's stock was down another 4% in pre-market trading Wednesday morning.
On one hand, Micron's fourth-quarter financial results looked strong. Revenue surged 37% from year-ago levels to $8.27 billion, and gross margin figures showed a massive 13-percentage-point improvement to nearly 48%. Net income more than doubled year over year, and Micron's earnings of $2.42 per share were better than most investors had expected. The quarter closed an exceptionally good year in fiscal 2021 for Micron, with revenue growth approaching 30% and earnings of $6.06 per share doubling fiscal 2020's $2.83-per-share mark.
However, most investors were disappointed with Micron's immediate future outlook. For the first quarter of fiscal 2022, Micron believes revenue will come in between $7.45 billion and $7.85 billion. That would represent a potentially significant sequential decrease from fiscal fourth-quarter results, and earnings of $2 to $2.20 per share on an adjusted basis also left investors wanting more.
Those who've followed Micron for some time will recognize the cyclical pressures it's facing now. As chipmakers boost capacity to meet demand, semiconductor chip prices will fall, and that will threaten the huge profits that Micron has enjoyed in the recent past.
Lucid gears up
On the positive side, shares of Lucid Group looked poised to reverse a sharp decline from the previous day. The stock rose 7% in pre-market trading, clawing back all of its 5% loss on Tuesday and then some.
The good news from Lucid was that it started production at its Arizona facility of its Lucid Air luxury EV. The company's Production Preview Week event in Casa Grande opened the doors to Lucid's advanced manufacturing plant and powertrain manufacturing factory to investors, policymakers, and customers. Tuesday's event included the first Lucid Air coming off the assembly line.
Lucid expects the production facility to ramp up quickly. It hopes to make customer deliveries as early as late October, starting with its 520 Dream Edition models and working through its trim categories thereafter. All told, Lucid has gotten more than 13,000 reservations for various Air models.
Lucid hopes that its battery technology's greater range will give it competitive advantages against rivals like Tesla. With a price tag starting at $77,400, however, Lucid will have a lot of work to do before it can tap into the larger mass market.
