Micron Electronics Drops After Profit Warning

Shares of

Micron Electronics

(MUEI)

dropped sharply a day after the company said fiscal first-quarter earnings will be well below Wall Street's estimates, primarily because of lower DRAM pricing in its

SpecTek

business.

Micron recently traded at $4.56, down 75 cents, or 14.2%, reaching a 52-week low in

Nasdaq

trading.

The computer products and services distributor now expects to report revenue of about $385 million to $400 million and earnings of 1 cent to 4 cents a share for the quarter ended Nov. 30. Analysts expect Micron Electronics to earn 11 cents a share for the quarter, according to

First Call/Thomson Financial

. The company will release results Dec. 20.

Micron Electronics, Nampa, Idaho, expects PC sales to come in $30 million to $35 million lower than previous estimates because of slower holiday consumer sales, echoing an announcement from sector heavyweight

Gateway

(GTW)

earlier this week.

Micron Electronics, which is about 61%-owned by

Micron Technology

(MU) - Get Report

, indicated that overall PC operating results should still improve from last quarter, as lower operating expenses will mostly offset any effect from lower-than-expected PC sales.