Track market-moving stories before they get noisy

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) stock gained by more than 1% during Tuesday’s premarket session as traders lean into the stock’s still-bullish longer-term uptrend and position ahead of a near-term catalyst.

Nasdaq futures are down 0.01% while S&P 500 futures have shed 0.08%.

The company heads into its fiscal fourth-quarter report on Sept. 30 with analysts expecting tight memory supply, stronger pricing and AI-driven demand to support earnings, margins and guidance.

Wall Street expects earnings of $31.45 per share, up from $3.03 a year earlier. Revenue is expected to reach $50.75 billion, compared with $11.31 billion in the prior-year period.

JPMorgan Sees Beat-And-Raise PotentialJPMorgan analyst Harlan Sur reiterated an Overweight rating and $1,540 price forecast, expecting Micron to outperform August-quarter Street estimates of $51.4 billion in revenue, 86.2% gross margin and $31.73 in EPS.

Sur expects DRAM average selling prices to rise more than 20% sequentially, while NAND pricing could increase about 20% as high-capacity enterprise SSD supply remains tight.

He also expects Micron’s data-center revenue to exceed its May-quarter annualized run rate of more than $100 billion, with data-center SSD revenue remaining above $5 billion.

For the November quarter, Sur expects guidance above consensus forecasts of $56.3 billion in revenue, 86.5% gross margin and $35.71 in EPS.

JPMorgan estimates the HBM market could reach $160 billion in 2027 and $282 billion in 2028. Its analysis points to HBM shortages of 20% in 2026, 19% in 2027 and 16% in 2028.

Sur also projects more than $24 billion in August-quarter free cash flow, up from $18.3 billion in May, and sees future share repurchases as another potential value driver.

Bank of America Focuses On Margin DurabilityBank of America Securities analyst Vivek Arya reiterated a Buy rating and $1,550 price forecast.

Arya said the key question heading into earnings is whether Micron can sustain gross margins in the mid-80% range through fiscal 2027, rather than near-term memory pricing.

He estimates margins at that level could support fiscal 2027 EPS of $150 to $200, more than double earnings from the current fiscal year.

At those earnings levels, Arya said Micron could trade near seven times forward earnings, compared with the roughly 10 times multiple the company has historically sustained.

BMO Sees Memory Supercycle ContinuingBMO analyst Harsh Kumar, who carries an Outperform rating and $1,300 price forecast, raised his estimates after memory pricing exceeded his expectations.

Kumar said one distributor estimated demand at roughly three times available supply and expects the industry to remain undersupplied throughout 2027 and potentially into 2028.

He sees agentic AI driving stronger server DRAM demand, particularly for DDR5, while growing HBM production further constrains conventional DRAM supply.

Kumar expects NAND flash could become the next major bottleneck and potentially post the strongest price increases next year.

He also sees limited near-term relief from additional supply because new fabrication plants typically require two to three years to build and cost roughly $8 billion to $10 billion.

The stock carries a Buy rating with an average price forecast of $1541.09. Recent analyst moves include:

Wedbush: Outperform (Maintains forecast to $1400.00) (Sept. 28) Baird: Outperform (Raises forecast to $1520.00) (Sept. 28) Rosenblatt: Buy (Maintains forecast to $1500.00) (Sept. 24) Micron Top ETF Exposure iShares Semiconductor ETF (NASDAQ:SOXX): 8.78% Weight Invesco PHLX Semiconductor ETF (NASDAQ:SOXQ): 8.80% Weight State Street SPDR NYSE Technology ETF (NYSE:XNTK): 8.87% Weight Significance: Because MU carries such a heavy weight in these funds, any significant inflows or outflows for these ETFs will likely force automatic buying or selling of the stock.

Micron Price ActionMU Stock Price Activity: Micron Technology shares were up 1.38% at $1068.50 during premarket trading on Tuesday, according to Benzinga Pro data.

Photo via Shutterstock

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Micron Technology (MU -2.62%) has a major event coming up that could shift market sentiment toward its stock. On Sept. 30, it will deliver its fiscal 2026 fourth-quarter results, and what it says could create a new paradigm for the stock.

The market has long recognized that Micron was a cyclical company. The state of the memory chip business fluctuates significantly as demand rises and falls, and as producers' moves to add capacity during tighter markets lead to oversupply conditions later. However, there has never been a demand wave as large as the one currently underway -- thanks to the AI build-out, all the available production capacity for every chipmaker involved in the memory space has been presold.

As Wednesday's announcement will be Micron's fiscal 2026 Q4, it may issue guidance for fiscal 2027 that could shock the market and send the stock price soaring. 

Image source: The Motley Fool.

The AI build-out is expected to last for many years Historically, waves of elevated memory chip demand come along every so often, and they usually only last for a few years. The one being driven by the AI build-out is different.

What we're experiencing right now is the greatest demand for computing power humanity has ever seen, and the types of processors being deployed require an incredible amount of memory to operate efficiently -- particularly high-bandwidth memory (HBM). Currently, the available supply isn't even close to meeting demand, although all three major providers, including Micron, are building new foundries to boost production capacity.

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While some of these projects are slated to finish over the next few years, there will be questions about whether this is enough, as data center build-outs are only expected to continue to ramp up for at least the next four years.

Nvidia (NVDA +1.68%) estimates that this year, the big five AI hyperscalers will spend nearly $800 billion on data center build-outs. In 2027, they estimate that figure will rise to $1.3 trillion. Ultimately, Nvidia predicts that global data center capital expenditures will rise to between $3 trillion and $4 trillion in 2030. That means demand will remain elevated for memory chips too, as Micron's chips go into Nvidia's GPUs, among other computing units.

The problem is that the market isn't pricing Micron stock as if it expects this spending trend to last. Right now, Micron trades for a mere 6.8 times fiscal 2027 earnings projections.

MU PE Ratio (Forward) data by YCharts.

If this demand wave lasts beyond next year, Micron stock could deliver incredible returns. And considering that one of the most well-connected businesses in the AI build-out has consistently told investors that there are still several more strong years ahead, I think Micron is a no-brainer buy at these prices. Investors may want to get into the stock before Sept. 30, because come Oct. 1, the market could start to find a new paradigm for valuing Micron.

Key Takeaways
Micron Technology is due to report earnings after markets close Wednesday.Options pricing suggests traders see the stock swinging up to 7% by the end of the week.Analysts expect Micron to report strong sales and profit growth on booming AI demand.

Micron Technology is set to report earnings after markets close Wednesday, with traders anticipating a sizable move in the memory chipmaker’s stock.1

Based on current options pricing, Micron (MU) shares seen swinging up to 7% in either direction by the end of the week. From Monday’s close, a move of that size could push the shares up to $1,127, approaching their June record, or pull them back below $982.

Micron shares have nearly quadrupled in value since the start of the year on a boom in AI-driven demand, though they’ve pulled back from their record high in recent months amid some worries around the sustainability of growth.

Why This Matters to Investors
Another strong report from Micron could help improve sentiment around the AI trade.

Analysts at UBS recently wrote that they see the gap between memory supply and demand only getting wider heading into 2027, however, and advised investors to focus on the “durability” of demand.2

Micron is expected to report $50.95 billion in revenue for its fiscal fourth quarter, up 350% year-over-year, per Visible Alpha estimates. Adjusted earnings are seen coming in at $31.63 per share, more than 10 times what the company reported a year ago.

Analysts are overwhelmingly bullish on Micron, with 11 of the 12 analysts tracked by Visible Alpha recommending buying the stock, and one neutral rating. Their mean target of $1,545 would suggest almost 50% upside from Monday’s close.

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The technology sector has a relatively light earnings calendar this week, but several closely watched companies are set to report, led by memory chip leader Micron Technology (MU - Free Report) ).

Investors will also be watching results from electronics manufacturer Jabil (JBL - Free Report) ) and consulting and technology-services giant Accenture (ACN - Free Report) ), particularly for updates on AI-related demand and enterprise technology spending.

Micron Technology – MUZacks Rank #3 (Hold)Micron will report results for its fiscal fourth-quarter after the market closes on Wednesday, Sept. 30, with surging demand for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) used in AI infrastructure remaining the central story.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate calls for Q4 earnings of $31.45 per share, representing a staggering 938% increase from EPS of $3.03 in the prior-year quarter. This comes as Q4 sales are projected to soar nearly 350% to $50.86 billion, compared with $11.32 billion a year ago.

Along with the headline results, investors will closely watch Micron's outlook for DRAM and NAND pricing, HBM demand, and gross margins.

Jabil – JBLZacks Rank #3 (Hold)As one of the world’s largest electronics manufacturing services providers, Jabil is scheduled to report results for its fiscal fourth-quarter before Wednesday's opening bell.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate calls for Q4 EPS of $4.05, up 23% from the prior-year period, on revenue of $9.61 billion, which would represent more than 16% growth.

Investors will likely focus on Jabil's exposure to cloud and data-center infrastructure as AI-related hardware demand continues to expand.

Accenture – ACNZacks Rank #3 (Hold)Rounding out the week's notable tech reports, Accenture will announce its fiscal Q4 results before the market opens Thursday, Oct. 1.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate calls for Q4 earnings of $3.19 per share, up 5% YoY, while quarterly revenue is projected to rise more than 2% to $18.01 billion.

Beyond the headline numbers, Accenture's results should provide another useful gauge of enterprise technology spending and demand for AI-related consulting and implementation services.

Bottom LineMicron will provide the headline technology report to watch this week, with explosive AI-driven memory demand setting a particularly high bar for its fiscal fourth-quarter results.

That said, Jabil and Accenture should provide additional insight into AI infrastructure spending and broader enterprise technology demand heading into the final months of 2026.

Micron Technology Inc (NASDAQ:MU) could deliver fourth-fiscal-quarter earnings per share in the mid-$30s as rising DRAM and NAND prices lift sales and margins, Wedbush said ahead of the company's earnings call.

The revised estimates sit around the upper end of prior company guidance, assuming mid-teens price increases for DRAM and NAND flash.

Wedbush saw scope for fourth-fiscal-quarter earnings per share to reach the mid-$30s, citing stronger pricing dynamics of roughly 30% quarter-over-quarter and resulting sales and margin gains.

The broker estimated calendar second-quarter price increases approaching 100% for standard DRAM and in the high double digits for NAND, followed by third-quarter gains of 20%-30%.

Within Micron's fourth fiscal quarter, June pricing alone could lift average selling prices by 20%-30%, the broker wrote.

It estimated July and August price gains added at least a high-single-digit quarter-over-quarter benefit, although agreements limited how much product captured higher prices.

Looking ahead, Wedbush expected calendar fourth-quarter DRAM and NAND contract price increases of 10%-20%, while noting that, to its knowledge, pricing remained unfinalized.

With roughly half of Micron's pricing assumed covered by long-term agreements, that implied mid- to high-single-digit price appreciation.

Wedbush wrote that management could offer more modest guidance to build in a cushion against changing conditions.

Even so, the broker anticipated guidance implying mid-$30s per-share earnings power, potentially supported by a stronger fourth-fiscal-quarter base.

Looking further ahead, Wedbush expected mid to high-double-digit computing and accelerator growth through next year, pushing memory and storage requirements beyond industry supply growth.

Its conversations also suggested hyperscale customers' NAND requirement forecasts were rising in later years.

Against that backdrop, Wedbush expected prices to edge higher in 2027 and memory suppliers, including Micron, to return substantial cash to shareholders.

Micron (MU -2.62%) stock slipped 2.5% thorugh 2:25 p.m. ET Monday after OpenAI announced over the weekend that it will pause training on some of its artificial intelligence models as it investigates new reports of AI agents going "rogue."

Image source: Micron.

Why this might be bad news for Micron stock Training AI models -- and even more using AI to answer questions (inference) and operate AI agents requires enormous amounts of memory. All year long, this rise in demand for computer memory has been pushing prices higher for the DRAM and NAND memory chips that Micron produces, boosting sales, profit margins, and bottom-line profits, too.

A chorus of calls lately to slow the pace of AI advancement, however, has investors wondering how long the big profits can last for Micron. Additionally, a recent rise in U.S. interest rates -- and warnings that persistently high inflation may require further rate increases -- is putting pressure on tech stocks in general.

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Not everyone's worried about Micron stock Despite the news from OpenAI and the faltering share price, Wall Street isn't the least bit concerned. As StreetInsider.com reports, RW Baird raised its price target on Micron stock to $1,520 today, while DA Davidson and JPMorgan both reiterated their buy ratings on the stock ahead of Wednesday's upcoming earnings release.

JPMorgan analyst Harlan Sur predicted a "beat-and-raise" quarter on continued tight DRAM and NAND supply. Davidson analyst Gil Luria agrees and thinks a price target of $2,000 a share isn't unreasonable. Baird analyst Tristan Gerra comments that he sees DRAM demand continuing, supply growth moderating, and prices rising in 2027, all on "a surge in agentic AI demand."

Does any of this sound to you like Wall Street is worried OpenAI will slow the rate of AI growth? Because it doesn't sound like that to me.

Rich Smith has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Micron Technology. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Micron Technology MU stock fell 4% on Thursday as investors weighed rising US Treasury yields and higher crude oil prices ahead of the memory chipmaker’s fiscal fourth-quarter earnings report on Sept. 30.

Despite the decline, Baird raised its price target on Micron to $1,520 from $1,280 while reiterating its outperform rating. The new target implies about 40% upside from Friday’s close.

Baird analyst Tristan Gerra said the firm was “incrementally positive on Micron near- and medium term” because of rising demand for agentic artificial intelligence, slower expected DRAM supply growth across the industry in 2027 and a higher-margin outlook for high-bandwidth memory next year.

Micron shares have risen sharply in 2026 alongside other memory stocks, supported in part by a shortage of memory chips.

The stock is up 279% this year and reached an intraday record of $1,255 on June 25.

Micron is benefiting from growing demand for high-performance memory as artificial intelligence adoption increases.

AI systems process large amounts of data and require memory with greater capacity and bandwidth, supporting demand for DRAM in AI servers and other high-performance computing systems.

DRAM is expected to be Micron’s biggest growth engine in the fourth quarter.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate puts DRAM revenue at $38.26 billion, representing a 325.8% increase from the year-ago quarter.

The expected growth comes alongside improving conditions in the broader memory market.

The industry had previously faced excess supply, weak pricing, and elevated inventories, but those conditions have improved, resulting in a healthier balance between supply and demand.

The combination of stronger AI demand and improved pricing conditions is expected to support DRAM revenue and profitability in the quarter.

High-bandwidth memory has become another important part of Micron’s AI growth outlook.

AI accelerators use HBM to provide the high memory bandwidth required for increasingly complex workloads.

Micron is mass-producing HBM for NVIDIA’s next-generation AI chips, giving the company exposure to growing demand for AI infrastructure.

HBM supply remains relatively tight, while demand from AI data centres continues to increase.

Micron has also highlighted strong demand for HBM4.

Its HBM4 12-high ramp is progressing faster than the earlier HBM3E 12-high ramp, potentially increasing HBM’s contribution to revenue and profitability over time.

Baird’s Gerra also pointed to a higher margin profile for HBM next year as one of the factors supporting the firm’s positive view of Micron.

Micron’s relationships with major semiconductor companies provide exposure to several AI platforms.

NVIDIA has selected Micron as a major HBM supplier for its Blackwell GPUs and Vera Rubin AI platform.

Micron also supplies HBM3E products for Advanced Micro Devices’ Instinct MI350 AI accelerators.

The company is also working with Marvell Technology on advanced memory solutions for AI applications.

Marvell’s focus on custom AI silicon provides another potential avenue for Micron to participate in the expansion of AI infrastructure.

Micron’s fiscal fourth-quarter results are due Wednesday.

LSEG consensus expects earnings to rise 939% year over year. Analysts remain broadly positive, with 46 of 49 analysts tracked by LSEG rating the stock a buy or strong buy.

The average analyst price target implies about 34% upside.

JPMorgan analyst Harlan Sur expects Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) to confirm strong memory pricing in its fourth-quarter report, due Sept. 30.

Sur reiterated an Overweight rating and $1,540 price forecast, saying Micron has several opportunities to beat current Wall Street expectations and raise its outlook.

August-quarter revenue, gross margin and EPS expectations are above Street estimates of $51.4 billion, 86.2% and $31.73, respectively.

Sur forecasts:

DRAM average selling prices will rise more than 20% sequentially NAND prices to increase about 20% as high-capacity enterprise SSD supply remains tight. Micron’s data-center business to exceed its May-quarter annualized revenue run rate of more than $100 billion, with data-center SSD revenue likely remaining above $5 billion. And an additional gross-margin upside from stronger-than-expected pricing, a favorable product mix as HBM4 ramps and operating leverage. November-Quarter Guidance Could Beat ConsensusSur expects Micron to guide above current November-quarter consensus estimates of $56.3 billion in revenue, 86.5% gross margin and $35.71 in EPS.

He pointed to stronger customer demand signals, management’s view that calendar 2027 could prove even tighter than 2026 and continued HBM4 production growth.

JPMorgan estimates the HBM market could reach $160 billion in 2027 and $282 billion in 2028. Sur expects Micron to target an HBM market share roughly in line with its approximately 23% DRAM share.

Memory Shortage Could Persist Through 2028JPMorgan’s supply-demand analysis shows HBM shortages of 20% in 2026, 19% in 2027 and 16% in 2028, with the cumulative shortage reaching 23 weeks by 2028.

Those constraints will maintain upward pressure on pricing even after accounting for changes in HBM specifications, Sur says.

Sur estimates Micron’s SCA coverage could rise from over 35% of bit production to more than 50%, boosting visibility into pricing and volume. He projects August-quarter free cash flow to top $24 billion, up from $18.3 billion in May. Following the Dec. 9 two-year anniversary of its CHIPS Act deal, Micron plans to return 100% of excess cash via share buybacks—a key catalyst as JPMorgan forecasts $200 billion in cumulative free cash flow through calendar 2027.

Price ActionMU Stock Price Activity: Micron Technology shares were down 3.89% at $1040.18 at the time of publication on Monday, according to Benzinga Pro data.

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Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU – Get Free Report)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reiterated by equities research analysts at Wedbush in a research note issued on Monday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $1,400.00 target price on the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock. Wedbush’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 34.31% from the company’s current price.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of Micron Technology from $1,500.00 to $1,550.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, June 25th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Micron Technology from $1,050.00 to $1,200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $1,300.00 price objective on shares of Micron Technology and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. ThinkEquity reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Micron Technology in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $1,500.00 price objective on shares of Micron Technology in a research note on Thursday, June 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-nine have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Micron Technology currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $1,348.03.

Read Our Latest Analysis on MU

Micron Technology Stock Down 3.7% Shares of NASDAQ:MU traded down $39.94 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $1,042.34. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 5,511,488 shares, compared to its average volume of 42,014,070. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 3.42 and a quick ratio of 2.98. The company has a market capitalization of $1.18 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.73, a P/E/G ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 2.22. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $944.98 and its 200 day moving average price is $800.38. Micron Technology has a 52 week low of $159.97 and a 52 week high of $1,255.00. Insider Activity In other news, EVP April S. Arnzen sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,083.94, for a total transaction of $43,357,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 85,737 shares in the company, valued at approximately $92,933,763.78. This represents a 31.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Lynn A. Dugle sold 1,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $1,150.43, for a total value of $1,495,559.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 17,728 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,394,823.04. This represents a 6.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 137,179 shares of company stock valued at $135,792,625 over the last quarter. 0.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Micron Technology Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MU. M.E. Allison & CO. Inc. lifted its position in Micron Technology by 0.8% during the second quarter. M.E. Allison & CO. Inc. now owns 1,324 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $1,528,000 after purchasing an additional 11 shares during the period. Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Micron Technology by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Cherrydale Wealth Management LLC now owns 972 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $1,122,000 after buying an additional 13 shares in the last quarter. Bellevue Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Micron Technology by 25.5% during the 2nd quarter. Bellevue Asset Management LLC now owns 64 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $74,000 after buying an additional 13 shares during the period. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Micron Technology by 8.8% in the second quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 161 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock worth $186,000 after purchasing an additional 13 shares during the period. Finally, Red Door Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Micron Technology by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Red Door Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,914 shares of the semiconductor manufacturer’s stock valued at $2,209,000 after buying an additional 14 shares in the last quarter. 80.84% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Micron Technology News Here are the key news stories impacting Micron Technology this week:

Positive Sentiment: Analyst support remains strong: Wedbush reaffirmed its “Outperform” rating with a $1,400 price target, while Robert W. Baird raised its target to $1,520. JPMorgan also reiterated an “Overweight” rating and a $1,540 target. Micron Technology Stock Rating Reaffirmed as Outperform by Wedbush Positive Sentiment: AI-driven demand is the key bullish thesis: Tight DRAM and NAND supply, strong high-bandwidth memory demand, pricing power, and accelerated capacity expansion are expected to support sharply higher revenue, margins, and free cash flow. Analysts expect earnings per share to rise substantially year over year. Micron Technology is Printing Cash Positive Sentiment: Technical and options activity point to a major catalyst: MU has moved above an ascending-triangle pattern, while options traders are pricing in an approximately 8% potential move around earnings. The report and management’s outlook for fiscal 2027 will be especially important for validating the memory upcycle. Micron Stock Could Move on Q4 Earnings Neutral Sentiment: Earnings expectations are elevated: Investors are looking for results above guidance and evidence that exceptionally high gross margins can persist. The report could produce significant volatility depending on pricing, HBM4 demand, supply plans, and customer commitments. Negative Sentiment: Macro pressure is weighing on the stock: Rising bond yields and surging crude oil prices are pressuring high-growth technology shares and increasing concerns about valuation and a possible slowdown in AI spending. Micron Stock Sinks on AI Safety Fears and Higher Yields Negative Sentiment: Insider selling is a cautionary signal: Reported insider transactions show substantial sales and no purchases during the past six months, potentially adding investor concern after MU’s powerful rally. (Get Free Report)

Micron Technology, Inc is a global semiconductor company that designs, develops, manufactures and sells memory and storage solutions. Its product portfolio includes dynamic random-access memory (DRAM), NAND flash memory, NOR flash memory, solid-state drives, memory modules and high-bandwidth memory used in data-intensive computing applications.

Micron’s products support a range of markets, including data centers, artificial intelligence and high-performance computing, personal computers, smartphones, automotive systems, industrial equipment and networking devices.

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SummaryMicron (MU) is benefiting from a severe industry supply bottleneck in HBM4 and DRAM, driving exceptional pricing power and margin expansion.MU's gross margin surged to 84% and is guided to 86%, with revenue and EPS growth driven primarily by price, not volume.Fiscal Q4 2026 will be a 14-week quarter; headline growth may mislead, but underlying demand and pricing remain robust.Valuation remains attractive at a forward PE of 14.8x; the bull case hinges on EPS growth, with a fair FY27 price target of $1,280 at 8x EPS.Looking for more investing ideas like this one? Get them exclusively at iREIT®+HOYA Capital. Learn More » mesh cube/iStock via Getty Images

Introduction Until a little more than a year ago, the end of September was a dull period for the market. In fact, September was usually a red month, and it didn't spark a lot of enthusiasm as the earnings season was rapidly ending, with no

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Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have a beneficial long position in the shares of MU either through stock ownership, options, or other derivatives. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.

Seeking Alpha's Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.

With shares up 279% this year, Micron Technology (MU -3.70%) has been one of the top-performing stocks in 2026.

Micron stock has witnessed some turbulence lately, pulling back from the 52-week high it reached toward the end of June. However, the company's shares have rallied impressively over the past couple of months, up 31% since the beginning of August. The next big test for Micron's rally will arrive on Sept. 30, when it releases its fiscal 2026 fourth-quarter results.

The company's quarterly performance and guidance will be instrumental in deciding the stock's performance in the final quarter of the year. Let's take a look at Micron's prospects to understand where this semiconductor stock could be by the end of the year.

Image source: Micron Technology.

Micron could get a nice boost following its resultsMicron Technology faces ambitious targets going into its quarterly report. The company's revenue is anticipated to increase by 352% year over year to $51.2 billion, according to consensus estimates. Analysts project a jump of over 10x in earnings per share (EPS) to $31.59.

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It is worth noting that the midpoint of Micron's guidance for the recently concluded quarter called for $31.00 in EPS on revenue of $50 billion. Analysts are expecting Micron to exceed expectations, and that's not surprising considering the favorable demand-supply conditions in the memory market.

Citi estimates that the demand-supply gap in the memory industry is poised to widen, driven by the booming demand for AI-focused high-bandwidth memory (HBM). According to Citi, the global demand for dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) could increase by 30% in 2027 and 35% in 2028. At the same time, supply growth is poised to be slower at 19% in 2027 and 22% in 2028.

A similar scenario will unfold in the NAND flash storage market. Citi predicts demand is on track to jump by 29% next year and 33% in 2028. These increases will outpace the supply increases of 21% and 25% in 2027 and 2028, respectively.

Micron sells both DRAM and NAND flash memory chips. DRAM accounts for 76% of the company's top line, with NAND flash generating the rest of its revenue. So, the favorable demand-supply dynamics in both markets will ensure that Micron's red-hot growth continues.

Interestingly, there is a belief among some analysts that memory supply constraints will ease next year, especially in NAND flash. However, that seems unlikely given the scale of investments in AI data centers. For instance, PwC projects that annual AI infrastructure capital spending will increase from $800 billion in 2026 to $1.8 trillion in 2050.

The consulting firm estimates that the outlay on AI chips will increase from the current 70% to 93% in 2050. Given that memory is the largest cost component in AI chips, I won't be surprised to see Micron's addressable market expand rapidly in the long run.

The favorable dynamics discussed above suggest that Micron's numbers could indeed exceed expectations, along with the guidance. That's precisely why I think that this AI stock is about to get a nice shot in the arm following its upcoming report, which could pave the way for a strong finish to the year.

Here's how much upside investors can expect by the end of 2026Micron's 12-month median price target of $1,600 indicates a 48% jump from current levels, according to 57 analysts covering the stock. However, the company's ability to outperform expectations, driven by a potential improvement in memory market dynamics, could send it much higher.

Analysts, for instance, are expecting a 643% year-over-year spike in Micron's EPS in the current quarter (which ends in November) to $35.45. Adding the projected EPS for the current quarter to Micron's EPS in the last three quarters points to $103.76 in earnings per share for the trailing twelve months at the end of the first quarter of fiscal 2027 (calculated by adding the projected earnings of the previous and the current quarter to the actual EPS of fiscal Q2 and fiscal Q3).

If Micron trades at 24 times earnings at the end of 2026, in line with the Nasdaq-100 index's forward earnings multiple, its stock price could jump to $2,490 (based on the EPS calculated above). That's a potential 130% upside from current levels, suggesting that Micron could make a parabolic move in the final quarter of the year.

The Roundhill Memory ETF (DRAM) heads into the week with a big catalyst ahead: Micron's earnings. Micron is the fund's largest holding, and the report should show whether growth across the memory industry is holding up. 

DRAM closed last week at $61.91, more than double its all-time low but about 24% below its all-time high of $81.34. It has held a narrow range since August, and investors have pulled roughly $2.1 billion from the fund over the past month.

DRAM outflows | Source: ETF Db

One of the top stories that will drive the DRAM ETF is from South Korea, where SK Hynix, its third-biggest constituent, is planning a major IPO for its subsidiary. SK Hynix is considering a US IPO of Solidigm, which will value it at $100 billion.

There are signs that investors are not cheerful about the deal, with the stock falling by over 5%. SK Square, which is a big investor in SK Hynix, dropped by over 8%. 

The decline was likely because investors are concerned about its complex ownership. In a statement, the Korea Corporate Governance Forum, the listing would add to the multiple layers of ownership within the group. It would also deepen the pyramid structure. An analyst told Bloomberg:

"A US listing could unlock Solidigm's value and fund expansion, but SK Hynix shareholders would be giving up a portion of its future earnings. The key is the valuation and the use of proceeds.”

SK Hynix’s slide will likely have an impact on DRAM when the US markets open later today. To make matters worse, Samsung Electronics stock was also down by over 4% on Monday. Together with Micron, these three companies make up of over 75% of the total fund. 

The other key catalyst for the DRAM ETF is the upcoming Micron earnings, which are scheduled to happen later this week. These earnings are used as a bellwether on the memory and the AI industries since the company sells its products to some of the biggest players in the industry.

Estimates are that Micron’s revenue soared last quarter. Precisely, the average estimate among analysts is that its revenue soared by over 320% to $51 billion. In reality, the figure will likely be much higher than that. 

Most importantly, Micron has become one of the top players in terms of margins. The management provided a gross margin guidance of 86%, meaning that the real figure will be close to 90%. In contrast, Nvidia has a gross margin of 75%. 

These earnings come at a time when Micron is trading at a bargain, with its forward price-to-earnings ratio of 14 being lower than the sector median of 20. Micron’s earnings are important because it is the biggest constituent in DRAM. 

DRAM ETF chart | Source: TradingView

The four-hour chart shows that the DRAM ETF has remained inside a narrow range in the past few months. This consolidation has coincided with the ongoing outflows as investors start booking profits. 

The ETF is trading between the middle and the upper side of the Bollinger Bands. Also, the two lines of the Percentage Price Oscillator (PPO) have formed a bearish crossover. Therefore, there is a risk that the fund will drop to $53, the lower side of the PPO. In the future, however, the fund will rebound and possibly move to $65.

JPMorgan reiterated its Overweight rating and $1,540 price target on Micron (NASDASQ: MU) stock on September 28, two days ahead of the company's earnings report.

Key Takeaways Geopolitical tensions, Fed policy and AI reshaped the market landscape in 2026.Moderna, Micron, Intel and AMD fueled outsized gains in leveraged ETFs.Single-stock leveraged ETFs amplified gains as AI and biotech momentum accelerated. The year 2026 has been all about heightened geopolitical tensions due to the U.S.-Iran war and the AI boom, as well as risks associated with its investments and evolution. The year began with strong optimism. The sentiment has shifted sharply due to the Iran war in Q1. Multiple efforts for long-standing diplomacy have offered little support so far.

Geopolitical Shock Ruled Q1: The Iran ConflictThe biggest market-moving catalyst this year has been the war involving Iran. The United States and Israel launched coordinated strikes on Iran on Feb. 28, 2026, with President Donald Trump saying that the operation was aimed at destroying Iran's nuclear program and weakening its current regime.

What was initially expected to be a short conflict has turned into a prolonged disruption, particularly hitting crucial global energy supply routes like the Strait of Hormuz. The resulting oil shock has rattled markets, fueled inflation concerns and stoked fears of stagflation.

Fed Rate Hike in SeptemberAt the start of the year, the Federal Reserve paused rate cuts due to resilient consumer spending and a stable labor market. However, renewed inflationary fears amid geopolitical shocks have complicated the outlook.

After several months of seesawing treasury yields, the Fed increased its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points in mid September, marking its first rate hike in three years. The Fed’s updated Summary of Economic Projections points to an additional rate hike in 2026 (read: 4 Bond ETFs to Gain from Fed Rate Hike).

AI Trade: Ups and DownsThe once-dominant AI-driven rally cooled significantly in Q1. Rising bond yields pressured high valuations, while profit-taking and downbeat sentiment toward growth sectors like technology reduced its role as a safe haven.

Uncertainty around AI payoffs, combined with concerns about heavy capital spending rising from global competition, has weighed on the "Magnificent Seven" stocks too.

Apart from payoff concerns and rising treasury yields, in early 2026, software stocks sold off sharply on fears that AI agents would cannibalize traditional seat-based licenses. The core concern: if AI agents do the work, fewer human users need logins— eroding the per-seat subscription revenue that underpins much of the SaaS sector.

The Dow Jones U.S. Software Index, a benchmark for the U.S. software sector fell about 36% from record high on Oct. 28, 2025 to Apr, 10, 2026. However, most concerns subsided as the year progressed, as evident from the 54% gain in Roundhill Generative AI & Technology ETF CHAT.

Strong earnings from Amazon (AMZN) and Microsoft (MSFT) reassured investors that AI investment remains robust. Hyperscalers now expect to spend $720-$745 billion on capital projects in 2026.

Winning ETF AreasAgainst this backdrop, below we highlight a few of the best-performing single-stock leveraged ETFs over the first nine months of 2026.

Moderna-Leveraged ETFsDefiance Daily Target 2X Long MRNA ETF (MRNX - Free Report) surged about 640% so far this year (as of Sept. 25, 2026) while the stock Moderna (MRNA - Free Report) itself skyrocketed about 544.5%. The biotech company saw its shares surge about 140% in August after the company and Merck announced on Aug. 19 that their experimental personalized mRNA melanoma vaccine, intismeran, met its primary goals in a landmark Phase 3 clinical trial.

The combination of the vaccine with Merck’s immunotherapy drug Keytruda delayed cancer recurrence and prevented disease from spreading in high-risk patients. The vaccine success boosted the stock and ETF (read: Best-Performing Leveraged ETFs of August).

Micron-Heavy ETFsDirexion Daily MU Bull 2X ETF (MUU - Free Report) rose 521.5% in the year-to-date frame. Micron Technology (MU - Free Report) stock advanced about 243.1% during this timeframe.

Micron’s surge this year is primarily driven by an AI-driven memory shortage story rather than just a broader semiconductor rally. Demand for HBM, server DRAM, and NAND storage has risen sharply as hyperscalers expand AI data centers, while new supply is likely to take years to arrive (read: What Lies Ahead of DRAM ETF as Memory Crisis May Intensify in 2027?).

Intel-Heavy ETFsDirexion Daily INTC Bull 2X ETF (LINT - Free Report) surged 442.3% so far this year while Intel Corp. (INTC - Free Report) shares gained about 212% so far this year.

Intel’s shares rallied this year due to cyclical recovery, AI-driven demand, and a credible turnaround in its foundry business under CEO Lip???Bu Tan. The company is benefiting from “agentic AI” workloads and hyperscaler capex cycles, with Xeon 6 CPUs and Gaudi AI accelerators seeing strong adoption, per Reuters.

Advanced Micro Devices-Heavy ETFs Advanced Micro Devices (AMD - Free Report) shares added 182.2% so far this year while Direxion Daily AMD Bull 2X ETF (AMUU - Free Report) shares gained about 403%.

AMD’s MI300 and next-generation MI350 series have gained traction with hyperscalers and enterprise AI buyers as alternatives to NVIDIA’s GPUs. The company has joined an elite group of U.S. chipmakers after its market capitalization crossed $1 trillion for the first time on Sept. 21, 2026.

Micron Technology is heading into its earnings report with the potential to emerge as one of the biggest beneficiaries of the artificial-intelligence investment boom and challenge Nvidia’s dominance as a driver of stock-market earnings growth.

The memory-chip maker is scheduled to report results on Wednesday, with analysts tracked by FactSet expecting earnings per share to surge 940% in the August quarter from a year earlier.

If analysts’ forecasts are met, Micron could become the largest contributor to S&P 500 earnings growth for the first time in at least two-and-a-half years, according to Seaport Research Partners data, MarketWatch reported.

Micron shares have already gained 243% this year, giving the company a market value of about $1.2 trillion.

The stock has experienced significant swings over the past three months, reflecting both enthusiasm around AI spending and concerns over the sustainability of the massive investment cycle.

Micron is increasingly viewed as a company positioned at the intersection of two major market themes: the durability of AI spending and the concentration of stock-market leadership among a relatively small group of technology companies.

"When you have leadership that's this narrow, it stops being company-specific, and the report becomes a market event in and of itself," Jake Behan, Direxion's head of capital markets, told MarketWatch.

Micron's stock has "become a referendum on the health of the AI build-out," Behan added.

Jacob Bourne, a technology analyst at Emarketer, said Micron's results "should offer a useful indication of whether strength is broadening beyond AI infrastructure."

That question has become increasingly important for investors as the market weighs whether the enormous spending on AI data centers can eventually translate into broader corporate earnings growth.

Micron’s growing influence on the broader market reflects the dramatic improvement in the memory-chip industry.

The company ranked as the ninth-largest contributor to S&P 500 earnings growth in last year's third quarter, according to FactSet.

Its position subsequently rose to sixth in the fourth quarter and then third during the first half of this year as the memory supply crunch intensified.

Micron’s latest results could push it to the top of that ranking.

FactSet currently expects S&P 500 earnings to increase 29.1% in the third quarter.

Excluding Micron, that growth rate would fall to 24%, according to the research firm.

"Even if you threw Micron out of the S&P, the earnings growth is still insanely good," said Jonathan Golub, chief investment strategist at Seaport Research Partners.

According to JPMorgan, semiconductor companies, including Nvidia, make up 20% of S&P 500 market capitalisation, but contributed to 40% of total S&P 500 earnings growth in Q2.

Micron's Q3 corresponds to the Q2 results released by the rest of the companies listed on US markets, since the company's fiscal year ends with September, while most corporations align their fiscal year directly with the calender year ending December 31.

The result would nevertheless highlight how important Micron has become to the earnings outlook as AI-related demand spreads through the semiconductor industry.

Expectations have also strengthened among Wall Street analysts.

Citi analyst Atif Malik recently raised his price target for Micron to $1,300 from $1,150, pointing to stronger DRAM pricing and continued tight supplies of memory and storage products amid the expansion of AI infrastructure and data centers.

The raised PT reflects a 20% upside from Friday's close.

Malik expects Micron to beat its fiscal fourth-quarter estimates as DRAM and NAND markets remain tight.

DRAM prices increased more than 60% in Micron’s third quarter, while NAND prices rose more than 80%.

JPMorgan has reiterated its Overweight rating and $1,540 price target on the stock.

The firm expects Micron to raise its November-quarter guidance, citing stronger aggregate demand signals from customers, management’s expectation that supply conditions will be tighter in 2027 than in 2026, and continued momentum in the HBM4 ramp-up.

JPMorgan noted that Micron had already shipped more than $1 billion worth of HBM4 as of the May quarter.

The earnings report will arrive before the broader third-quarter earnings season accelerates next month, making Micron one of the first major indicators of how AI-related semiconductor demand is translating into corporate profits.

Investors brace for a sharp post-earnings moveThe options market is signaling that investors expect a substantial reaction when Micron reports.

Options currently imply a post-earnings move of roughly 8% to 10%, equivalent to about $87 to $108 based on the stock's current price.

That potential swing underscores the importance of the report beyond Micron itself.

With AI infrastructure spending expected to remain a major driver of technology investment, the company's results could provide investors with another indication of whether soaring demand for computing infrastructure is translating into sustained pricing power and earnings growth.

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A potato empire built on frozen fries and handshake deals sounds like an unlikely launching pad for one of the most lucrative bets in American business history, yet a single $1 million check written in 1980 set off a chain…

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Micron Technology was founded on October 5, 1978. It started in the basement of a dentist’s office in Boise, Idaho, by Ward Parkinson, Joe Parkinson, Dennis Wilson and Doug Pitman. In 1980, J.R. Simplot invested $1 million for a 40% stake in the young company.

That company is now Micron (NASDAQ:MU | MU Price Prediction), and its market capitalization stands at $1,222,319,456,040.

A Potato Magnate Who Took 40% of a Chip Startup Simplot started as a hog farmer as a teenager and built a potato and food-processing empire. He was widely called the French Fry King, a label Fortune used in a 1995 headline about how America’s french fry king made billions more in semiconductors.

He became the original frozen-fry supplier to McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) through a handshake deal with Ray Kroc in 1967.

A potato man with no semiconductor background took 40% of a memory chip startup operating out of a dentist’s basement.

How a 40% Stake Shrank While Its Value Exploded Over the following decades, Simplot’s stake diluted as Micron raised capital. By 1994, it stood at roughly 20%, a position valued at approximately $4 billion at the time. By September 2000, it was down to 3.6%.

Dilution is simple once the mechanism is clear. Existing owners keep the same number of shares. But when a company issues new shares to raise money, those shares represent a smaller slice of a larger company. Building a capital-hungry chip business requires repeated trips to investors, and each trip reduces the percentage held by early backers.

That mechanism is what turns the headline into a hypothetical. Simplot’s percentage fell as the company grew around it. This is the ordinary path for nearly every early stake in a business that lasts long enough to become enormous. Readers who want to trace Micron’s share structure over time can review the company’s filings on SEC EDGAR.

Micron Today Sits Past the Trillion-Dollar Mark Micron shares traded at $1,082.28 as of 7:59 PM Eastern on September 25, 2026, up 0.16% in the session, with the price delayed by roughly fifteen minutes. The run has been extraordinary: the stock is up 279.44% year to date and up 591.22% over the past year.

Micron’s market cap crossed $1 trillion on May 26, 2026, and it has continued higher since that milestone, which is why the current figure is larger. The company remains headquartered in Boise, and its investor relations site carries its official disclosures. Investors can keep an eye on the stock heading into Micron’s next earnings report, which recent CNBC coverage flags as coming up.

A $400 Billion Counterfactual, Clearly Fenced An full 40% stake would be worth roughly $400 billion today. That figure describes what the stake would have been worth had it never been diluted, but it was diluted, so the number belongs to an imaginary version of history, and no one holds it.

Simplot died in 2008, and neither he nor his descendants hold a disclosed position in Micron today.

One of the Great Returns in American Business This is a story about a fortune made. A $1 million investment was worth roughly $4 billion at one point. It ranks among the great returns in American business history, whatever the full number might have been.

The hypothetical draws attention because of its sheer scale. Simplot backed the company early, held through years when Micron needed repeated injections of capital, and made a great deal of real money along the way.

A basement under a dentist’s office in Boise. A potato magnate’s $1 million check in 1980. A company now valued at $1,222,319,456,040.

Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.

When Micron Technology (MU +0.16%) issued its fiscal fourth-quarter outlook in late June, one number stood out even in a report full of them: a gross margin of about 86%, on revenue of $50 billion, plus or minus $1 billion. Put another way, management expects to spend only about 14 cents of each sales dollar making the chips it sells -- in an industry where margins have always swung violently with memory prices.

The guided quarter is already over. Micron's fiscal fourth quarter of 2026 ended in early September, and the company reports the results on Wednesday, Sept. 30, after the market closes.

How long can a memory maker keep a margin like that? The company's own reported history offers a blunt answer.

Image source: Micron.

The old ceiling was 61%Capturing how quickly this boom has escalated, Micron's fiscal 2026 third quarter (ended May 28) produced a gross margin of 84.6%, up from 74.4% the quarter before and 37.7% a year earlier. The company's latest quarterly filing credits the surge to demand from artificial intelligence data centers, which it says is growing faster than the industry can add supply. The higher prices have lifted profitability across its whole portfolio.

For scale, the fiscal 2018 memory boom (the company called it a record year) topped out at a 61% gross margin in its final quarter. The upcycle after that one peaked at 47.3% in the quarter ended in early September 2021.

In other words, Micron's best quarters across two prior booms never came within 20 percentage points of where the business sits today. After 10 years covering tech stocks, I haven't seen anything like it.

The rest of the industry has the same record. Rival SK Hynix (SKHY +2.79%) closed 2018 with record annual results, including a 52% operating margin. And a year later, its operating profit had fallen 87%.

Every prior peak faded fastThe 61% quarter was fiscal 2018's last. Three quarters later, Micron's gross margin was 38.2%. A quarter after that, it was 28.6% -- less than half the peak, about a year after it was set. And the margin didn't recover once the slide stopped. Two years after the peak, it stood at 34.1%.

The next boom ended even harder. From its 47.3% peak, the margin was still holding at 47.2% two quarters later. And four quarters after that, it was negative 32.7%.

Both times, once the slide began, the margin gave up more than 30 percentage points within about a year. This is the history an 86% guide is up against.

Can contract floors change the pattern?Notably, management isn't calling for prices to keep climbing at the recent pace. The guided margin of about 86% sits little more than a point above fiscal Q3's 84.6% -- and that quarter had jumped 10 points from the one before.

"Our fiscal Q4 gross margin outlook reflects a meaningful moderation in the rate of price increases," chief financial officer Mark Murphy said in his prepared remarks for the company's June earnings call.

What's different this time, Micron argues, is the contracts. The company has signed 16 customer agreements running three to five years. Its quarterly filing describes them as take-or-pay deals, most with either fixed pricing or contractual price floors and ceilings.

Even more, CEO Sanjay Mehrotra said in the same prepared remarks that the floor prices alone enable a gross margin "well above our peak quarterly margins in any past cycle."

Demand may stay strong for a while, too. Mehrotra told analysts he expects industry supply to improve only gradually in 2028. The contracts are new, though. And no downturn has tested the floors yet.

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The market seems to have noticed. Analysts' consensus estimates point to about $158 in earnings per share for fiscal 2027, which started in early September.

At about $1,070 per share as of this writing, that comes to about 7 times forward earnings. Arguably, it's the kind of multiple investors reserve for earnings they don't expect to last.

Ultimately, I'd take management at its word in both directions. The price surge that built this margin is slowing, and the floors under the next downturn are stronger than anything Micron has had before. But I'd value the company as if 86% is this cycle's peak, not its new normal. Micron has never held a margin peak for long, and I wouldn't plan on this one being different.

Key Takeaways Micron's Q3 revenues reached $41.46B, driven by strong demand for high-bandwidth memory chips. NVIDIA's Data Center revenues surged 117% to $89B, while total revenues jumped 106% year over year.NVIDIA's 63.7% net margin and 96% ROE exceed Micron's 55.9% and 72.5%, respectively. The rising demand for memory and Data Center infrastructure amid the artificial intelligence (AI) boom benefited both Micron Technology (MU - Free Report) and NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA - Free Report) . Here is a look at how the two stocks compare after their latest earnings reports and which one presents a more compelling buying opportunity. 

Strong HBM Demand Drives Micron’s Growth and Outlook According to Micron’s June 24 press release, the company’s revenues for the fiscal third quarter of 2026 came in at $41.46 billion, significantly higher than $23.86 billion in the previous quarter and $9.3 billion recorded a year earlier.  

The company’s top-line growth was driven by robust demand for Micron’s cutting-edge high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips. Demand for HBM, which is widely used in AI servers, remains strong due to its capability to competently manage complex AI workloads while offering improved power efficiency. 

Looking ahead, Micron expects revenues to rise to around $50 billion in the fiscal fourth quarter of 2026. The company also projects a healthy gross margin of approximately 86%, supported by strong demand for AI-related memory products and favorable pricing. 

Data Center Growth Drives NVDA’s Revenues and Profitability NVIDIA’s Data Center segment remained its key growth driver, with revenues surging 117% year over year to $89 billion in the fiscal second quarter of 2027, according to the company’s Aug. 26 press release. Total revenues reached an exceptional $96 billion, representing a 106% year-over-year and 18% sequential jump.  

Along with revenue growth, the company’s profitability has also strengthened. NVIDIA’s gross margin rose to 75% from 72.4% a year ago, while both GAAP and non-GAAP net income increased. NVIDIA’s GAAP operating income has more than doubled year over year, implying significant operating leverage. 

Looking ahead, NVIDIA projects $108 billion, plus or minus 2%, in revenues for the fiscal third quarter of 2027, signaling continued sequential growth. Profitability is also expected to remain robust, and with the Vera Rubin platform entering full production, NVIDIA is well-poised to benefit from the next phase of demand for AI infrastructure. 

Micron or NVIDIA: Which AI Stock Is a Better Buy Now? Driven by strong HBM demand, Micron delivered strong revenue growth and profitability, while robust Data Center growth has boosted NVIDIA’s revenues and profitability. However, unlike Micron’s growth, which is much more concentrated in the memory cycle, NVIDIA’s broader AI infrastructure exposure gives the Jensen Huang-led company a stronger growth outlook and greater earnings visibility. 

Additionally, NVIDIA’s 63.7% net profit margin, compared with Micron’s 55.9%, indicates greater efficiency in converting revenues into bottom-line profits.

 

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Moreover, NVIDIA appears more efficient than Micron at generating profits from shareholders’ equity. This is because NVIDIA’s return on equity (ROE) of 96% exceeds Micron’s ROE of 72.5%.  

 

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Overall, NVIDIA’s broader AI exposure, stronger margins, and higher ROE make it a more compelling investment opportunity now than Micron. New investors may consider waiting for Micron’s upcoming earnings release on Sept. 30, after the market close, to assess growth and opportunity before making an informed investment decision. 

NVIDIA currently has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), while Micron has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks Rank #1 stocks here.

Analysts on Wall Street project that Micron (MU - Free Report) will announce quarterly earnings of $31.45 per share in its forthcoming report, representing an increase of 938% year over year. Revenues are projected to reach $50.86 billion, increasing 349.5% from the same quarter last year.

Over the past 30 days, the consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has been adjusted upward by 0.5% to its current level. This demonstrates the covering analysts' collective reassessment of their initial projections during this period.

Before a company reveals its earnings, it is vital to take into account any changes in earnings projections. These revisions play a pivotal role in predicting the possible reactions of investors toward the stock. Multiple empirical studies have consistently shown a strong association between trends in earnings estimates and the short-term price movements of a stock.

While investors usually depend on consensus earnings and revenue estimates to assess the business performance for the quarter, delving into analysts' forecasts for certain key metrics often provides a more comprehensive understanding.

With that in mind, let's delve into the average projections of some Micron metrics that are commonly tracked and projected by analysts on Wall Street.

Based on the collective assessment of analysts, 'Revenue by Technology- DRAM' should arrive at $38.26 billion. The estimate indicates a change of +325.8% from the prior-year quarter.

The consensus among analysts is that 'Revenue by Technology- Other (primarily NOR)' will reach $168.90 million. The estimate points to a change of +113.8% from the year-ago quarter.

The average prediction of analysts places 'Revenue by Technology- NAND' at $12.32 billion. The estimate indicates a change of +446.9% from the prior-year quarter.

View all Key Company Metrics for Micron here>>>

Over the past month, Micron shares have recorded returns of +15.5% versus the Zacks S&P 500 composite's +0.7% change. Based on its Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), MU will likely exhibit a performance that aligns with the overall market in the upcoming period. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stocks here >>>> .

Wall Street analysts see 40% upside in Micron, yet the stock just dropped sharply after a blowout earnings beat. Something underneath the headline numbers explains why the bull case may be stronger now than before the selloff.

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Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU | MU Price Prediction) at $1080.53 screens as attractive at current levels. The AI memory shortage has shifted from cyclical spike to multi-year contract book.

Micron is the only US-based maker of DRAM and NAND at scale, with High Bandwidth Memory a bottleneck for every leading AI accelerator. Fiscal Q3 revenue hit $41.46 billion, up 345.72% year over year, with non-GAAP gross margin at 84.9%. That explains the stock’s move from near $285.23 to $1080.53.

Contracted Cash Flows Change the Memory Playbook Management has signed 16 Strategic Customer Agreements covering roughly 20% of DRAM volume and a third of NAND volume through calendar 2030, with $100 billion in cumulative revenue at minimum pricing across 14 of them and $22 billion in cash deposits and related financial commitments backing them. This converts the historical memory swing into visible cash flow.

Fiscal Q4 guidance calls for $50.00 billion in revenue and $31.00 in non-GAAP EPS at the midpoint. HBM4 volume is ramping twice as fast as HBM3E 12-high, with over $1 billion in HBM4 revenue already booked. At a forward P/E of 7, this looks materially mispriced.

What the Cycle Skeptics See Memory has always been cyclical. Micron just posted 84.9% gross margin, a level that historically invites supply response. Capex is scaling to approximately $27 billion in fiscal 2026, and management flagged a meaningful moderation in the rate of price increases for Q4.

Post-earnings, MU fell 32.39% in the thirty days after the earnings report despite a 23.79% Q3 surprise. Concentration risk with the lead HBM4 customer, a $325M loss on debt prepayments, and a beta of 2.222 add to the sell case.

Reasons to Sit on Hands Fundamentals are extraordinary, but the stock has delivered 569.27% over one year and 278.82% year to date, well past most sell-side entry points.

A hold makes sense for anyone waiting to see fiscal Q4 land inside guidance, customer deposits show up on the balance sheet, and industry supply data confirms tightness extends beyond calendar 2027. The cost of waiting is paying up after the fiscal Q4 report; the cost of acting now is a beta above 2 into any AI capex wobble.

What the Numbers Reveal at This Price MU trades at $1080.53 against a consensus analyst target of $1515.54, implying roughly 40% upside, though targets are one data point rather than a promise. The ratings breakdown across 48 covering analysts skews decisively bullish: 9 Strong Buy, 35 Buy, 4 Hold, 0 Sell, 0 Strong Sell.

Valuation reads as 25 trailing and 7 forward P/E, with a PEG of 0.16. Over the past year MU is up 569.27% versus SPY’s 16.06%, and year to date the spread is 278.82% against 12.52%.

Why $1080 Still Looks Like an Entry At $1080, Micron still screens as attractive.

Guidance implies a sequential jump to $50.00 billion in revenue and $31.00 in EPS. RPO of roughly $100 billion across signed SCAs converts the historical memory swing into visible cash flow. Floor prices support gross margins well above peak quarterly margins in any past cycle.

At a forward P/E of 7 on guided earnings, the entry point implies the market is pricing in sharp normalization that management’s contracts push out to 2028. The thesis breaks if HBM4 share slips against Samsung and SK Hynix, if hyperscaler capex plans contract, or if the lead customer diversifies faster than expected.

The setup here (early positioning in a company that supplies the picks and shovels for AI compute) is the same pattern we broke down in a free playbook on spotting the next 100x tech winner: available here.

Owning MU at $1080 hinges on the durability of contracted memory economics, and the contract book is now large enough to underpin that thesis.

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Three chatbots ran separate research sessions on Friday, Sept. 25 and landed on the same stock. ChatGPT, Grok and Claude each named Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) as the top pick for the week of Sept. 28. The memory-chip maker reports its fiscal fourth quarter on Wednesday after the close.

MU stock is moving ahead of earnings. See the real-time price action here.  Each model got the same prompt: choose one U.S.-listed stock with a specific catalyst in the coming week, then lay out a thesis, a key risk and a trade plan. This week’s lineup was ChatGPT running GPT-5.6 Luna, Grok 4.5 and Claude Opus 5.5. 

The SetupIn June, Micron guided for fiscal fourth-quarter revenue of about $50 billion, up from $11.3 billion a year earlier. Its adjusted EPS guidance was $31, plus or minus $1, according to Reuters. Consensus now stands at $31.14 a share, compared with $3.03 a year ago, per Benzinga Pro data. 

CEO Sanjay Mehrotra sounded confident about supply. “We expect tight conditions to persist beyond calendar 2027 as a result of AI-driven demand across all segments coupled with structural supply constraints,” he said. 

The stock traded near $1,080 Friday morning, up about 278% year-to-date. Shares are still roughly 13% below the June 25 high of $1,255, Benzinga Pro data show.

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Where the Bots AgreedChatGPT called Micron the clearest near-term catalyst among liquid large caps. It pointed to AI-driven memory demand and constrained DRAM supply. Grok leaned on Micron’s beat-and-raise history. Claude described a $1.2 trillion megacap whose long-term supply contracts support fiscal 2027 visibility, and it flagged a possible buyback announcement.

All three cited Citi’s recent price-target increase to $1,300. Claude also noted UBS’s $1,625 target when the firm more than tripled its forecast in May. 

The targets were close together. ChatGPT and Grok both aimed for $1,200 with a $1,000 stop and rated their confidence 8 out of 10. Claude was more cautious. It set a $1,180 target, a $985 stop and a 6 out of 10 confidence score.

Where They SplitEntry points diverged. ChatGPT suggested buying between $1,040 and $1,060, while Grok set a range of $1,080 to $1,100. Claude capped its entry at $1,075. With shares near $1,090 Friday, only Grok’s range was in play.

The Michael Burry FactorClaude was the only model to name a specific bear. Michael Burry, the investor made famous by “The Big Short,” said this week he was adding to his Micron short. 

“Over the next two years this shortage will blow off as production catches up, and memory will have a down cycle again,” Burry wrote on Substack, CNBC reported.

Claude called “sell the news” the biggest risk., and recent history supports the concern. After Micron’s strong March 18 report, shares fell 30% in less than two weeks. June went the other way, with a 15% after-hours jump. ChatGPT and Grok both pointed to guidance as the swing factor. 

The Runners-UpAll three models listed Nike Inc. (NYSE:NKE) as a runner-up ahead of its fiscal first-quarter report next Thursday after the close. Shares traded around $35.48 Friday, just above a 52-week low of $35.22.

ChatGPT and Claude also picked Carnival Corp. (NYSE:CCL), which reports Tuesday. Grok went with Accenture Plc (NYSE:ACN), which reports Thursday before the open.

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Photo: Shutterstock

This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.

© 2026 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

The timing of an Nvidia product ramp may require a balancing act for Micron investors, as some estimated revenue shifts toward next year instead of this year.

Key Takeaways Micron is set to report Q4 results on Sept. 30, with consensus EPS at $31.45 on $50.86B in revenues.AI server growth and rising HBM demand are expected to support Micron's fourth-quarter performance.DRAM revenues are estimated at $38.26B, while NAND revenues are forecasted to reach $12.32B. Micron Technology, Inc. (MU - Free Report) will report fourth-quarter fiscal 2026 results after market close on Sept. 30.

The company projects fourth-quarter revenues to be $50 billion (+/- $1 billion). The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the top line is pegged at $50.86 billion, which implies year-over-year growth of 349.5%.

Micron Technology estimates adjusted earnings of $31.00 (+/- $1.00). The consensus mark for the bottom line has been revised upward by 6 cents to $31.45 per share over the past seven days, which indicates a year-over-year improvement of approximately 938%.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

The company’s earnings surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the trailing four quarters, the average surprise being 21.06%.

Earnings Whispers for Micron TechnologyOur proven model predicts an earnings beat for Micron Technology this earnings season. The combination of a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) increases the chances of an earnings beat, which is the case here.

MU’s Earnings ESP: Earnings ESP, which represents the difference between the Most Accurate Estimate ($31.71 per share) and the Zacks Consensus Estimate ($31.45 per share), is +0.81%. You can uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they are reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.

MU’s Zacks Rank: Micron Technology carries a Zacks Rank #3. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Factors Likely to Influence Micron’s Q4 ResultsMicron Technology’s fourth-quarter results are poised to reflect a significant boost from the growing demand for memory chips, fueled by the increasing adoption of graphics processing unit (GPU)-enabled artificial intelligence (AI) servers. As data center operators expand their infrastructure to support generative AI and large language models, memory chips have become essential components. This surge in demand for AI-driven technologies is likely to have bolstered Micron Technology’s revenues during the quarter under review.

Rising demand for high-bandwidth memory (HBM) is expected to have remained the major revenue growth driver for the company in the fourth quarter. Rising AI workloads, including longer context windows, reasoning and more complex models, are increasing the need for higher memory capacity and bandwidth.

Another positive factor is the improving supply-demand dynamics in the memory chip market. For several quarters, MU faced headwinds from excess inventory across various sectors, which heavily impacted its financial results. However, conditions have improved over the past year, which has resulted in an increase in prices for its DRAM and NAND chips.

The favorable supply-demand scenario is expected to have boosted Micron’s DRAM and NAND revenues in the to-be-reported quarter. According to the Zacks Consensus Estimate, DRAM revenues for the fourth quarter are expected to hit $38.26 billion, indicating robust year-over-year growth of 325.8%. NAND revenues are forecasted to jump 446.9% to $12.32 billion.

However, inflationary pressures and macroeconomic uncertainties have dampened consumer spending, likely reducing demand for memory chips in key markets, such as smartphones and personal computers. Micron Technology’s heavy reliance on China poses a risk amid ongoing U.S.-China trade tensions.

Micron Technology Share Price PerformanceOver the past year, Micron Technology shares have surged 587.3%, outperforming the Zacks Computer and Technology sector’s rise of 26.2%. The stock has also outpaced major semiconductor companies, including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSM - Free Report) , NVIDIA (NVDA - Free Report) and Broadcom (AVGO - Free Report) . Shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, NVIDIA and Broadcom have rallied 62.9%, 26.1% and 4.2%, respectively.

Micron Technology One-Year Price Return Performance
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

From a valuation standpoint, MU appears to be trading at a discount relative to the industry and is trading well below its mean. Going by the forward 12-month price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio, the company’s shares currently trade at 6.74, significantly lower than 21.16 for the industry.

Micron Technology Forward 12-Month P/E Ratio
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

MU stock also trades at a lower multiple compared to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, Broadcom and NVIDIA. At present, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, Broadcom and NVIDIA have P/E multiples of 22.61, 19.14 and 17.04, respectively.

Investment Consideration for MU StockMicron Technology sits at the heart of several transformative tech trends. The company’s exposure to AI, high-performance data centers, autonomous vehicles and industrial IoT uniquely positions it for sustainable long-term growth. As AI adoption accelerates, the demand for advanced memory solutions like DRAM and NAND is soaring. Micron Technology’s investments in next-generation DRAM and 3D NAND ensure it remains competitive in delivering the performance needed for modern computing.

Micron Technology's HBM business is becoming an increasingly important growth driver. On its last earnings call, the company stated its HBM4 12-high ramp is progressing twice as fast as the HBM3E 12-high ramp, while HBM4 revenues have already surpassed $1 billion. Management also indicated that HBM demand for 2027 and 2028 is well above the company's ability to supply.

Another major positive is Micron Technology's new Strategic Customer Agreements (SCAs). It has signed 16 SCAs, generally covering five years, with the agreements representing about 20% of DRAM volume and one-third of NAND volume over their terms. Out of the 16 agreements, 14 carry minimum-price commitments representing approximately $100 billion of cumulative revenues.

The main concern is that Micron Technology remains exposed to memory-market cycles. Its exceptionally high margins could eventually decline if industry supply catches up with demand. At the same time, the company is increasing investment to expand capacity.

In the fourth quarter of fiscal 2026, management projects capital expenditure of around $10 billion, bringing full-year fiscal 2026 capital spending to approximately $27 billion. It also expects capex in every quarter of fiscal 2027 to be above fiscal fourth-quarter levels, with more than half of the year-over-year increase coming from construction capex. These investments are aimed at long-term demand, but they create execution and timing risk. Construction spending will not produce bits immediately, which could limit free cash flow flexibility if demand fluctuates or pricing weakens.

Conclusion: Hold MU Stock Ahead of Q4 EarningsMicron Technology enters fourth-quarter earnings with several strong catalysts. Robust AI infrastructure spending, rising HBM demand, improving memory prices and better supply-demand conditions should have supported both revenues and profitability.

At the same time, MU stock has already delivered an exceptional rally, while the memory industry remains cyclical and Micron Technology is committing significant capital to expand capacity. These factors argue for a balanced approach rather than chasing the stock aggressively ahead of earnings.

For investors who already own Micron Technology, holding the stock ahead of the fourth-quarter results appears reasonable. The upcoming earnings report should provide important clues about HBM demand, memory pricing, fiscal 2027 growth and the returns Micron Technology can generate from its large capacity investments.

Michael Burry became famous for betting on the subprime mortgage collapse, which eventually led to actor Christian Bale portraying him in the film The Big Short. Today, Burry has taken on another target in artificial intelligence (AI) stocks, hoping to profit from a plunge in their share prices.

He has been very vocal about his short positions in Nvidia (NVDA -0.41%), Micron Technology (MU +0.81%), and Palantir Technologies (PLTR +0.42%). The question is whether investors should worry or keep holding these stocks.

Nvidia Burry's short thesis on Nvidia essentially centers around the economics of AI infrastructure, and whether the investments from hyperscalers (owners of large data centers) make sense. He believes the real economic life of chips is less than three years, given how fast chip technology is advancing.

However, cloud computing giants Amazon and Alphabet have both recently discussed their chip and networking investment economics. Their customers sign up for deals of five years or more, while Amazon is getting a payback within two to three years and Alphabet is getting a payback within two years -- or half that time when it uses its own chips.

Space Exploration Technologies, which is renting out Nvidia graphics processing units (GPUs) for computing capacity on a short-term basis, has been seeing a payback within a year given how constrained capacity is. Meanwhile, according to Bank of America, rental prices for Nvidia's two-year-old B200 GPUs have been on the rise.

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Right now, hyperscalers are seeing strong returns on their AI infrastructure investments, and they show no signs that they will slow their immense spending. If that proves to be the case, Nvidia is going to keep benefiting. It's a great company with a durable competitive moat, and with the stock trading at a forward price-to-earnings ratio (P/E) for less than 14.5 times fiscal 2028 analyst estimates, I'd be a buyer.

Image source: Getty Images.

Micron Burry recently boosted his short position in Micron, and I think his thesis holds more weight than the one for Nvidia. Micron has benefited from a huge surge in demand for high-bandwidth memory (HBM), which gets packaged with GPUs to optimize performance.

However, much of Micron's growth and margin expansion stems from it actually being a laggard in HBM, as the move of manufacturing capacity toward this high-end memory has left ordinary memory in short supply and prices soaring. As the supply demand of conventional memory becomes more balanced, this will hurt Micron.

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Burry has admitted that AI has changed the landscape for the historically very cyclical memory market and that this cycle may be different, "but not nearly different enough." Although the stock looks very cheap on a forward P/E basis of less than 6 times fiscal 2027 (ending August 2027) estimates, if pricing, gross margins, and earnings eventually collapse, his short could work.

Whether the bulls or bears will win out will largely come down to how long the memory supercycle lasts and how longer-term contracts will affect the cyclicality of the industry.

Palantir Another stock that Burry recently added to his short position is Palantir. One of the biggest knocks on it is its valuation, with the stock trading at a forward price-to-sales (P/S) multiple of nearly 57. However, Burry is not shorting the stock on valuation alone.

He has said that Palantir's metrics look more reminiscent of a consultant than a software-as-a-service (SaaS) company, with rising receivables and low deferred revenue. He also believes that improving AI models could threaten the company's competitive moat.

I would counter that by saying Palantir's margins are much more reflective of a top-tier SaaS company. Last quarter, its gross margin was nearly 85%, while its adjusted operating margin came in at 62%.

By comparison, consulting company Accenture had a gross margin of 33% last quarter. Meanwhile, with AI models continually outdoing one another and the rise of open-source models, the importance of a model-agnostic overlay like Palantir's is becoming even greater.

Although its valuation is pricey, Palantir's growth and opportunities are undeniable, and I think it could grow to become one of the largest companies in the world in the coming years.