Micron earnings are out after the bell following a big move higher. What analysts expect
With Micron Technology set to report earnings after the bell Wednesday, analysts will looks for signs on whether the company can keep up with the outsized demand for its advanced memory chips. Micron manufactures high-performance DRAM and high-bandwidth memory chips, two pieces of hardware critical to powering AI data centers, making the company a beneficiary of the so-called AI supercycle . In 2025, global investments in AI data centers surged to $61 billion, up slight from the year prior due to a “global construction frenzy,” according to an S & P Global report. This has led to a spike in memory chip prices and has sent Micron shares higher by 354% over the past year. MU 1Y mountain Micron Technology shares surged more than 300% over the past year. Expectations heading into Wednesday’s report are sky high. LSEG data shows analysts on average expect a profit of $9.31 per share for fiscal Q2. That’s nearly 500% above Micron’s earnings in the year-earlier period. Revenue for the quarter is also expected to have doubled. Guidance for the company is also expected to be strong due to heavy demand for high-bandwidth memory chips, according to several analysts. It has even led to Micron starting construction on what could eventually be a $100 billion chip-making facility in Central New York. The factory is expected to begin production in 2030, while the company’s two other under-development facilities in Idaho are expected to become active by the end of 2028. Of the 44 analysts who cover Micron, 40 have a buy or strong buy on shares. In a recent note to clients, Morgan Stanley’s Joseph Moore pointed to Micron’s ability ramp up its production and shipping of its chips as well as the continuation of the AI supercycle as factors critical to the stock’s growth. “Expect another quarter of results/guidance well above our/consensus estimates, but views on the duration of the cycle [will be] the key variable for the stock,” Moore said Monday in a note to clients. The analyst, who has an overweight rating on the stock, added that “any update Micron can provide on (1) the degree they are undershipping end demand (last quarter Micron said that they could only support 50% to 2/3rd of key customer demand), (2) progress and structure on LTA agreements (specifically prepayments), and (3) views on demand growth in 2027 will be the key focus areas for investors.” Here’s what else analysts on the Street are saying about Micron ahead of its earnings report due out on Wednesday after the bell. Deutsche Bank: Buy rating, $500 price target “We believe memory market conditions remain strong, with demand far outpacing supply,” Deutsche Bank analyst Melissa Waters said in a note dated March 10. “We believe MU has the flexibility to prioritize profitability over market share here, and would expect any lost HBM business to be more than made up for in high- margin core DRAM businesses (DBe core DRAM GMs > HBM GMs starting in Feb-qtr). All told, we remain positive on MU shares into earnings and believe current demand-supply dynamics should result in structurally higher profitability potential for the memory industry going forward.” Citi Research: Buy rating, $430 price target “We raise our Feb-Q/Apr-Q estimates above the Street driven by better YTD memory prices,” Citi analyst Atif Malik wrote in a note dated March 9. “We analyze Micron stock performance vs DRAM ASPs in the prior memory cycles and believe the stock could sustain gains this year, however, outperformance could moderate in 2Q off a sharp 100%+ Q/Q DRAM price hike in 1Q.” Baird Equity Research: Outperform rating, $500 price target “Beyond the 2x expected increase in DRAM pricing in C1Q QoQ, followed by another estimated 40%+ QoQ increase for 2Q, we expect DRAM industry bit growth of just 25% in C2027, which will remain well short of the end demand given our outlook for 60% CoWoS capacity growth YoY for C2027 and the bulk of the new DRAM capacity going to HBM,” Baird analyst Tristan Gerra said Monday in a note to clients. “HBM demand will be driven by a doubling of content in the upcoming AI GPUs/ASICs.” TD Cowen: Buy (1) rating, $500 price target “Micron arguably has one of the best technology portfolios in years, and being vertically integrated across DRAM, NAND and HBM remains vital within system architectures as megatrends like AI, automotive ADAS, and IoT become more prominent,” TD Cowen analyst Krish Sankar wrote in a March 15 note. “The company is now reaping the benefits from industry-broad supply cuts in 2022 and 2023, which are helping pricing for DRAM and NAND. However, even as utilization rates increase, we see High Bandwidth Memory as game changing for supply given the CapEx intensity associated with it where it costs 3x to make 1 exabyte of HBM compared to regular DRAM.” Morgan Stanley: Overweight rating, $450 price target “Our through-cycle earnings estimate of US$18.00 is a premium to average earnings over the last 8 years due mostly to HBM. Our 25x multiple reflects the market’s enthusiasm for the HBM opportunity, and at the high end of the broader semi group.”
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