Micron is one of the largest semiconductor companies in the world, specializing in memory and storage chips. Its primary revenue stream comes from dynamic random access memory, or DRAM, and it also has minority exposure to not-and or NAND, flash chips. Micron serves a global customer base, selling chips into data centers, mobile phones, consumer electronics, and industrial and automotive applications. The firm is vertically integrated.

The 2Q24 EPS season gets under way this week, launched, as usual, by earnings reports from the big banks. In the following week, the floodgates will open, with Consumer, Healthcare, and Industrial companies all releasing results. Information Technology and Energy companies generally report later in the EPS period, and then the Retailers wrap things up, likely in mid-to-late August. Consensus EPS estimates for 2Q24 growth range from mid-single-digits to low-double-digits. This follows 8% growth in 1Q24 EPS and 10% growth in 4Q23, according to Refinitiv. Leading sectors for 2Q24 are expected to be Communication Services (+22% EPS growth year over year), Healthcare (+20%), Information Technology (+17%), and Energy (+13%). On the downside, earnings from the Industrial sector are expected to decline 2%, Real Estate 3%, and Materials 9%. Consumer Discretionary earnings are expected to increase 9%. Revenue is expected to increase 4%, and 5% excluding the Energy sector. For 2024, our full-year S&P 500 earnings estimate is $247, implying high-single-digit growth from 2023 levels. Remember, companies almost always exceed earnings expectations. Last quarter, just over four-fifths of companies exceeded consensus expectations; and the average beat against expectations was above 7%.

The 2Q24 EPS season gets under way this week, launched, as usual, by earnings reports from the big banks. In the following week, the floodgates will open, with Consumer, Healthcare, and Industrial companies all releasing results. Information Technology and Energy companies generally report later in the EPS period, and then the Retailers wrap things up, likely in mid-to-late August. Consensus EPS estimates for 2Q24 growth range from mid-single-digits to low-double-digits. This follows 8% growth in 1Q24 EPS and 10% growth in 4Q23, according to Refinitiv. Leading sectors for 2Q24 are expected to be Communication Services (+22% EPS growth year over year), Healthcare (+20%), Information Technology (+17%), and Energy (+13%). On the downside, earnings from the Industrial sector are expected to decline 2%, Real Estate 3%, and Materials 9%. Consumer Discretionary earnings are expected to increase 9%. Revenue is expected to increase 4%, and 5% excluding the Energy sector. For 2024, our full-year S&P 500 earnings estimate is $247, implying high-single-digit growth from 2023 levels. Remember, companies almost always exceed earnings expectations. Last quarter, just over four-fifths of companies exceeded consensus expectations; and the average beat against expectations was above 7%.

At midday Thursday, the major benchmarks are flat and trading feels tentative. Individual stocks are where the drama is. Micron Technology (MU) is lower after reporting earnings and saying it sees lower profits ahead than expected. International Paper (IP) is down as it is no longer an acquisition candidate of Brazilian paper company Suzano. Wall Street is waiting to see what happens with the first U.S. Presidential debate tonight. This is bringing up chatter on how the candidates stack up on inflation, rates, jobs, and other economic issues, and who might be better for driving stocks up. The Labor Department reported that jobless claims rose to nearly 1.84 million for the week ended June 22. Also, key inflation indicator, PCE, is due tomorrow morning.