On Wednesday night, we'll get second-quarter results from memory and gadget maker Micron Technology (NYSE:MU), so it's about time to run a system check on the Idahoans.

What analysts say:

  • Buy, sell, or waffle? Twenty-four analysts follow Micron. Eight have a buy recommendation on the stock, two a sell, and the other 14 are doing their best Switzerland impressions. In our Motley Fool CAPS investor community, it's a three-star stock these days, based on input from 282 players. That's up from a one-star rating just a few months ago.
  • Revenues. Wall Street expects about $1.47 billion in revenues, 20% above the year-ago take of $1.23 billion.
  • Earnings. The estimate range goes from a loss of $0.10 per share to a $0.20 per-share profit, which averages out to a single penny's profit. Last year, GAAP earnings amounted to $0.27 per share, but a pro forma loss of $0.02 per share is a more fair basis for comparison. We'll get back to this in a second.

What management says:
Let's skip to the Big Boss this time. President Bush gave a budget speech from one of Micron's manufacturing facilities in February, holding up the firm as an example of how American companies can contribute to the economy by creating jobs and investing in its facilities. "It's a rare event for any company," said CEO Steve Appleton.

What management does:
Don't let these smoothly rising margins fool you -- it's the magic of trailing-12-month totals evening out a highly erratic set of results. The year-ago quarter, for example, saw the lowest sales out of the past six quarters, as well as an operating loss. But thanks to a $230 million lump sum payment from Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) in return for NAND flash memory designs and licenses, net income and cash flows came on like gangbusters. Excluding that quarter, Micron tends towards about 5% net margins.

Margins

9/2005

12/2005

3/2006

6/2006

8/2006

11/2006

Gross

23.5%

20.8%

18.7%

22.6%

22.9%

24.6%

Operating

4.2%

1.3%

-1.5%

2.7%

7.1%

7.7%

Net

3.9%

1.9%

3.5%

7.5%

7.7%

8.5%
All data courtesy of Capital IQ, a division of Standard & Poor's. Data reflects trailing-12-month performance for the quarters ended in the named months.

One Fool says:
Micron used to be a fairly clear-cut memory specialist, but that's hardly the case any longer. After casting rueful glances at the success of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and, in particular, of SanDisk (NASDAQ:SNDK), Micron decided to throw its weight behind this portable music player phenomenon.

The Lexar acquisition brought in some extra retail-oriented muscle on that front, and the company is now doing its best SanDisk impersonation. Micron is lagging its role model in terms of margins and revenue growth but is ahead of the game in total revenues, thanks to rising prices on its bread-and-butter commodity DRAM products.

Intel is a Motley Fool Inside Value recommendation.

Fool contributor Anders Bylund holds no position in any of the companies discussed here. You can check out Anders' holdings if you like, and Foolish disclosure is good for what ails ya.