Analysts revise Micron stock price targets based on earnings and outlook

Analysts revise Micron stock price targets based on earnings and outlook

Shares of Micron Technology plunged in early trading Thursday after the memory chip maker’s muted near-term outlook clouded an otherwise solid quarterly earnings report and triggered a series of price target changes from Wall Street analysts.

micron (MU) Shares have lost nearly a third of their value, or about $55 billion, since hitting a record high in mid-June as investors worried that a decline in demand for consumer electronics would hurt profits and sales in its key DRAM memory unit.

The group acknowledged weak demand in its fiscal first quarter earnings report last night, but noted that the crowded market was likely to ease early next year.

Meanwhile, sales of its key high-bandwidth memory chips, a critical component in artificial intelligence technologies, continue to rise, helping the company beat Wall Street’s quarterly revenue forecast and post better-than-expected earnings of $1.79. dollars per share.

These chips, including a new HBM3E iteration, are now being built into Nvidia’s (NVDA) H200 processors and the newly developed Blackwell systems. The chips have made Micron one of the few global companies able to compete in this fast-growing market.

Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra expects the market for AI-powered HBM chips to reach $100 billion by 2030. Micron Technology/TheStreet
Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra expects the market for AI-powered HBM chips to reach $100 billion by 2030. Micron Technology/TheStreet

In fact, Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra said the total addressable market for HBM chips is likely to grow to around $30 billion next year and surpass $100 billion by 2030.

“Our TAM forecast for HBM in 2030 would be larger than the size of the entire DRAM industry, including HBM, in calendar year 2024,” Mehrotra told investors in a conference call late Wednesday.

“This HBM growth will be transformative for Micron and we are excited about our industry leadership in this important product category.”

Still, Micron is forecasting revenue in the region of $7.9 billion for the current quarter, with a margin of error of $200 million. The figure missed Wall Street estimates by at least $1 billion and sent shares sharply lower in after-hours trading.

“After the carnage that followed Powell’s close on Wednesday, stocks appear to be headed significantly lower, with AI leverage unlikely to provide support in the near term,” said CJ Muse, analyst at Cantor Fitzgerald.

“However, we view this as merely a pause led by the more cyclical parts of the business, while the more secular AI levers are still well in play,” he added. “Therefore, we reiterate our overweight and continue to expect the stock to outperform in 2025.”

Related: Top analyst reviews Micron stock price target ahead of Q1 earnings release

JP Morgan analyst Harlan Sur also expressed optimism about Micron’s near-term opportunities, but lowered his price target by $35 to $145 per share after last night’s update.

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