Markets
markets
Luke Kawa

Micron slumps after CFO’s margin warning raises alarm about its AI data center business

Shares of Micron are tumbling after CFO Mark Murphy declined to provide fresh guidance for the chipmaker’s next earnings report, but warned that margins would be squeezed thereafter.

“We have no change to or no update” to the outlook previously provided for fiscal second-quarter results slated to be released next month, Murphy said at a Wolfe Research conference this morning. “We now see fiscal third-quarter gross margins to be lower by a few hundred basis points sequentially.”

Current consensus estimates show adjusted gross margins were expected to be down only modestly from fiscal Q2 to Q3, so those might be due for some negative revisions. But what that margin pressure says about the performance of its underlying business units may be more concerning.

The CFO’s remarks point to “a heavier consumer mix that suggests healthier smartphone demand but sluggish data-center solid-state drives,” Bloomberg Intelligence technology analyst Jake Silverman wrote. Solid-state drives (or SSDs) are used for data storage.

Micron is one of the worst performers in the VanEck Semiconductor ETF, which is having a rough session along with the broader market after the January CPI inflation report surprised to the upside.

But for the March 20 earnings report, the lack of an update may not be too much of an issue. The range of guidance was already loosely aligned with consensus estimates. Cynically, one could argue that opting against massaging those numbers higher now will make it easier to engineer a nice post-earnings bump when the company reports on March 20.

More Markets

See all Markets
markets
Ben Walsh

President Trump announces data center electricity deals at State of the Union

President Donald Trump said during Tuesday's State of the Union address that he's struck agreements with tech companies to pay more for electricity in areas where they build data centers.

The "rate payer protection pledges" are intended to insulate consumers from higher bills in regions where new, power-hungry data centers are built. The White House earlier told Politico that they plan meant that tech giants would "pay their own way" and offset their demand for power causing electricity bills for all ratepayers to increase.

Some tech companies are already trying to get out in front of the public's negative perception of their surging electricity use, and Trump's criticism of it. In January, Microsoft committed to paying up for its data-center electricity use. That move came after criticism from the President. As part of the plan, Microsoft said it would ask utilities and public commissions to charge it rates hight enough to cover the costs of both data center installation and usage, and support two-tier pricing systems where “Very Large Customers” (like data centers) get charged higher prices.

Coming in to the end of 2025, utilities with a footprint on the countries largest utility grid, the PJM interconnection which serves vast swathes of the Eastern seaboard and Great Lakes region, like Talen Energy, Constellation Energy, and Vistra saw their share prices surge as electricity auction prices hit record highs. So far in 2026, however, that trade has largely reversed.

Trump tries to get ahead of voters’ grumbling on AI data costs

Some tech companies are already trying to get out in front of the public's negative perception of their surging electricity use, and Trump's criticism of it. In January, Microsoft committed to paying up for its data-center electricity use. That move came after criticism from the President. As part of the plan, Microsoft said it would ask utilities and public commissions to charge it rates hight enough to cover the costs of both data center installation and usage, and support two-tier pricing systems where “Very Large Customers” (like data centers) get charged higher prices.

Coming in to the end of 2025, utilities with a footprint on the countries largest utility grid, the PJM interconnection which serves vast swathes of the Eastern seaboard and Great Lakes region, like Talen Energy, Constellation Energy, and Vistra saw their share prices surge as electricity auction prices hit record highs. So far in 2026, however, that trade has largely reversed.

markets
Max Knoblauch

Lucid reports Q4 earnings miss, revenue beat

Luxury EV maker Lucid reported its fourth-quarter earnings after the bell Tuesday. Shares fell more than 6% in after-hours trading.

The company posted an adjusted loss of $3.08 per share, wider than the $2.63 loss expected by analysts polled by FactSet. Lucid booked $522.7 million in revenue, beating the consensus estimate of $459.5 million.

Lucid issued a full-year 2026 production outlook of between 25,000 to 27,000 vehicles, representing 40% to 51% growth from 2025’s figures. Lucid downwardly revised its full-year 2025 production numbers from 18,378 to 17,840 vehicles due to internal validation issues.

The company maintained the timeline of its unnamed midsize SUV due to begin production later this year. That schedule puts it close to rival Rivian’s planned second-quarter release of its R2 SUV.

Lucid did not issue an update to its ongoing CEO search. The company has been led by interim CEO Marc Winterhoff for the past year, after it abruptly announced in its fourth-quarter 2024 report that then CEO Peter Rawlinson would step aside.

The stock has fallen to all-time lows this month and is down 98% from its high in 2021. Last week, the company announced it would lay off 12% of its US workforce in an effort to improve profitability.

markets
Matt Phillips

Tempus AI slides after missing Q4 EBITDA target

Cancer diagnostics company and sometimes retail shareholder favorite Tempus AI reported soft Q4 adjusted EBITDA numbers late Tuesday, sending shares lower in the after-hours session. 

It reported: 

  • Q4 revenue of $367.2 million vs. FactSet’s expectation of $362.8 million.

  • An adjusted loss per share of $0.04 vs. the $0.04 loss estimated.

  • Adjusted EBITDA of $12.9 million vs. expectations for $22 million, per FactSet.

Since going public in June 2024, Tempus has been a volatile stock that has both doubled — and cratered — on multiple occasions. That spectacle has at times captured the attention of retail traders who’ve tried to ride the waves.

Of late, the wave has been breaking bad, with shares down more than 30% since the stock hit a record high on October 8, 2025

Still, the company is now adjusted EBITDA positive. That, CEO Eric Lefkofsky told us last year, is the first milestone on Tempus’ journey to profitability, a mark that analysts think will take until at least next year for the company to hit.

Tasha Matsumoto
7h
Stocks bounce back powered by tech rebound

Tech rose amid AMD and Meta’s chip deal, and software stocks recovered as investors shook off yesterday’s dystopian AI report.

Anfernee Simons #2 of the Chicago Bulls dribbles during the second half of their NBA game against the Toronto Raptors at Scotiabank Arena on February 5, 2026 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
markets
Matt Phillips

Sandisk sinks more as product release underwhelms market

Sandisk’s online event marking its one-year anniversary since being spun off from Western Digital seems to be something of a damp squib.

The shares, already down a fair bit following the Citron Research short announcement, fell further after the company announced an upgrade to its consumer solid state memory drives alongside a YouTube-based presentation aimed at highlighting all the things one might do with, well, access to additional digital storage.

The stock — which is still up more than 150% in 2026 — was down more than 7% shortly after the company’s post at 2 p.m. ET. That was in stark contrast to the bump software stocks were riding following Anthropic’s product announcement earlier on Tuesday.

Latest Stories

Sherwood Media, LLC produces fresh and unique perspectives on topical financial news and is a fully owned subsidiary of Robinhood Markets, Inc., and any views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of any other Robinhood affiliate, including Robinhood Markets, Inc., Robinhood Financial LLC, Robinhood Securities, LLC, Robinhood Crypto, LLC, or Robinhood Money, LLC.
©2026 Sherwood Media, LLC