Track market-moving stories before they get noisy

The S&P 500 (^GSPC +0.50%) rose 1.75% to 7,394.30, the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC +0.31%) jumped 2.54% to 25,809.66, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI +0.70%) climbed 1.86% to 50,848.75 as a de-escalation of U.S.-Iran tensions lead a broad rebound.

Market moversMemory stocks surged today as Micron Technology bounced almost 12% to erase this week’s losses and Sandisk gained 14%. An analyst upgrade boosted Intel by 10%. Nvidia was also in the green, as semiconductors spearheaded the tech recovery.

In what’s becoming a common occurrence for AI hyperscalers, Oracle tumbled despite an earnings beat as investors digested its guidance and spending plans. Lam Research increased on renewed AI‑hardware demand optimism.

What this means for investorsStocks recovered today as renewed hopes for a U.S.-Iran peace deal ended a two-day selloff. Even hotter-than-expected wholesale inflation data didn’t dampen investor enthusiasm. May’s Producer Price Index rose 1.1% in May, taking the annual rate to 6.5%.

President Trump said he’d canceled tonight’s planned strikes on Iran and that negotiations were progressing. WTI crude oil fell back below $90 a barrel, and U.S. Treasury yields dropped. The stock rebound is a good reminder of how quickly markets can change direction, and underscores the importance of staying invested.

What promises to be a record-breaking IPO from SpaceX tomorrow dominated headlines. The company announced it would sell 555.6 million shares at $135 each, raising $75 billion and valuing it at a whopping $1.77 trillion. While individual investors are considering whether to buy SpaceX, there’s a broader liquidity concern on Wall Street — as investors might reduce exposure to other megacap techs to free up cash for the rocket-AI-communications stock.

Emma Newbery has positions in Nvidia. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Intel, Lam Research, Micron Technology, Nvidia, and Oracle. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Analyst Forecasts Move HigherMicron received another boost from Wall Street after Wolfe Research reiterated its Outperform rating and raised its price forecast to $1,250 on Thursday. The firm cited stronger pricing expectations for both DRAM and NAND memory products.

Wolfe expects memory demand to outpace supply through at least 2027, with industry growth constrained by limited cleanroom capacity. The firm now projects fiscal 2027 revenue of $226.5 billion and earnings of $135 per share. It also expects high-bandwidth memory (HBM) pricing to increase as suppliers seek margins closer to traditional DRAM products.

The bullish call follows other recent forecast increases. On Wednesday, Goldman Sachs maintained its Neutral rating and lifted its price forecast to $900. Earlier this week, Wells Fargo reiterated its Overweight rating and raised its forecast to $1,220.

The stock currently carries a consensus Buy rating, with an average analyst price forecast of $927.29.

Earnings Remain the Next Major CatalystInvestors are now looking toward Micron’s earnings report, scheduled for June 24.

Analysts expect earnings of $19.46 per share, up sharply from $1.91 a year earlier. Revenue is projected to reach $34.07 billion, compared with $9.30 billion in the prior-year period.

Micron Technical Picture Remains BullishMicron continues to trade in a strong long-term uptrend. The stock sits 12.2% above its 20-day simple moving average of $882.85 and 162.5% above its 200-day moving average of $377.38.

The broader trend remains constructive, supported by a bullish moving-average structure. The 20-day average remains above the 50-day average, while the 50-day average stays above the 200-day average.

However, momentum has cooled. The MACD indicator remains below its signal line, suggesting upside momentum has weakened and the stock may continue consolidating after its recent rally.

The next key resistance level is near $1,089.50, close to Micron’s 52-week high zone.

MU Stock Price Activity: Micron Technology shares were trading down 0.97% at $986.23 during premarket trading on Friday, according to Benzinga Pro data.

Photo via Shutterstock

Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs

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

To add Benzinga News as your preferred source on Google, click here.

If you had the foresight to invest in Micron (MU 1.02%) and Sandisk (SNDK +5.26%) stock during this time last year, you look like a genius right now. Micron is up about 700%, while Sandisk is up more than 3,800%. Those are monster returns in a short time frame, and would thrill any investor.

But that doesn't matter anymore. What really matters is if these two can continue their run.

Image source: Getty Images.

Micron and Sandisk are thriving from a memory chip shortage The artificial intelligence (AI) build-out has stretched many supply chains thin. Demand for computing products has never been this high, and there isn't the capacity to fulfill the needs that the AI hyperscalers are creating. Those demands aren't likely to slow down, either. Alphabet told investors that they should expect "significantly" more in data center capital expenditures in 2027, and Nvidia informed investors that next year's hyperscaler spending could top $1 trillion, on the path to $3 trillion to $4 trillion in annual data center spending around the globe by 2030.

Today's Change

(

5.26

%) $

99.04

Current Price

$

1980.55

Those are major growth projections, and any company involved in the AI build-out is set to experience major growth during the next few years, which bodes well for both Micron and Sandisk. These two companies both make memory chips, of which there are two primary varieties. Micron makes both NAND and DRAM, while Sandisk makes NAND. NAND memory has a higher storage capacity, but is slower than DRAM. In data center applications, it's primarily used in solid-state drives (SSDs) for long-term data storage. DRAM memory usually accompanies computing units like GPUs for quick access to information. Both of these types of memory chips are in high demand, and neither Sandisk nor Micron has the needed production capacity.

With low supply and high demand, the price of the commodity soars, which is why both Micron and Sandisk have seen unbelievable revenue and earnings growth during the past few quarters.

MU Revenue (Quarterly YoY Growth) data by YCharts

Wall Street analysts expect these incredible results to continue. For fiscal year 2027 (ending August 2027), Wall Street expects 63% revenue growth from Micron. Sandisk's projections are even higher, with its FY 2027 (ending June 2027) growth rates projected to come in at about 122%.

With long-term data center demand ahead and no chipmakers able to provide adequate supply, I'd expect memory chip prices to stay elevated for the next few years, making these stocks intriguing investments. But are they priced right?

Both Micron and Sandisk have room to run Despite both companies going on an unbelievable run during the past year, their stock valuations haven't gotten out of control because they were cheaply priced to begin with, and each has the growth to justify its current price tag.

MU PE Ratio (Forward 1y) data by YCharts

If you look at next year's earnings (forward one-year price-to-earnings ratio), each stock trades for about 9 times next year's earnings. Compared to each stock's forward P/E now, that could mean each stock can double as 2027's results are realized. Although that's not the monster returns that each stock put up during the past year, it's still a great return for just one year of buying and holding a stock.

However, these two stocks aren't set-it-and-forget-it investments. Investors will need to keep an eye on memory chip supply and demand, because if supply catches up to demand, prices could fall sharply, and these stocks could get slammed. If you're diligent, there's still a ton of money to be made here. But these two aren't for everyone due to their monitoring requirements.

Micron Technology MU drew a higher price target from Wolfe Research after the firm lifted its assumptions for memory pricing, according to an analyst note.

Wolfe increased its target on Micron to $1,250 from $550 and kept an Outperform rating. The firm said its updated model reflects sharper price gains for DRAM and NAND in calendar 2026 and 2027.

Wolfe said demand appears likely to stay ahead of supply through at least 2027 and possibly into 2028. It also said cleanroom limits may curb bit shipment growth, while high-bandwidth memory pricing could keep rising as suppliers try to narrow margin gaps.

The call adds to a series of upbeat Wall Street revisions on Micron. Susquehanna, DA Davidson and Mizuho have also lifted their targets in recent days, while Micron shares climbed about 11% on Thursday.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU | MU Price Prediction) is the chip stock dominating every feed after its memory business rode the AI cycle to a $1.12 trillion market cap and a 760.37% one-year run.

But here’s what you should actually be watching.

The Crowded Trade at the Top of the Cycle Memory margins do not stay at 74% forever. Micron just reported fiscal Q2 2026 revenue of $23.86 billion, up 196.3% YoY, with GAAP gross margin of 74.4% against a multi-year base where memory margins regularly compress below 30% in downcycles. Capex hit $15.86 billion in fiscal 2025 and is still climbing. CEO Sanjay Mehrotra himself flagged “dependence on sustained AI demand trajectory” as a key risk.

That is a textbook peak-cycle setup wearing AI clothes. The stock is up 249.09% year to date. Reddit’s wallstreetbets has been flooded with posts like “+6,476.76% gain on MU LEAPS, should I sell?” When LEAPS screenshots dominate the feed, the crowd has already arrived. You are the exit liquidity. Prediction markets confirm the fatigue: traders price only a 43% probability of MU closing June above $1,000.

The Redirect: A Record-Breaking Cloud Powerhouse on Sale Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) just delivered a record fiscal Q4 on June 10, 2026, then sold off 22.1% in a week to $184.10. That is the contrarian’s window.

Three reasons retirement-focused investors should pay attention while the herd is distracted:

1. Backlog visibility memory will never match. Oracle’s Remaining Performance Obligations hit $638 billion in Q4, up 363% YoY, with $75 billion tied to prepaid or customer-supplied GPU arrangements. Memory ships and reprices quarterly. Oracle has years of revenue already under contract. Safra Catz called the trajectory “an astonishing quarter” back in September, when RPO was a mere $455 billion.

2. Structural shift, recurring revenue. Cloud is now 52% of total revenue versus 43% a year ago. Cloud Infrastructure revenue grew 93% YoY to $5.787 billion. Multicloud AI Database grew 404% in Q4. Oracle monetizes the same AI buildout lifting Micron, just through subscriptions instead of spot pricing.

3. Guidance raised into the pullback. FY27 non-GAAP EPS guidance was raised to $8.05, representing 18% growth, with FY27 revenue confirmed at $90 billion. Q1 FY27 cloud revenue growth is guided at 58%-64%. The stock has been re-rated lower while forward estimates moved higher. That is a classic contrarian entry.

The Honest Risks, and Why They Don’t Break the Thesis Free cash flow ran to negative $23.686 billion for FY26 on $55.663 billion of capex. Oracle plans to raise roughly $40 billion in FY27 through debt and equity. That is the cost of building 211+ live and planned cloud regions and 72 Multicloud datacenters embedded inside Amazon, Google, and Microsoft. Customers are funding much of it directly. The capacity, per co-CEO Clay Magouyrk, is “all already contracted for at a very profitable rate.”

And while the infrastructure compounds, Oracle declared a $0.50 quarterly dividend on June 10, payable July 24. Income, plus a re-rating opportunity. Exactly what a retirement portfolio is built around.

Put Oracle on the watchlist while the headlines chase Micron at $995.87.

Key Takeaways Micron expects fiscal Q3 2026 revenues of $33.5B and gross margin near 81%. NVDA posted record fiscal Q1 2027 revenues of $81.6B and projects $91B for Q2. MU trades at 16.65 forward earnings versus NVDA's higher multiple of 22.97. Riding the artificial intelligence (AI) boom, Sanjay Mehrotra-led Micron Technology (MU - Free Report) outpaced Jensen Huang-led NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA - Free Report) over the past year, rising 761.5% compared to NVIDIA’s 44.3%. Let us thus see how both companies performed and whether Micron holds an investment edge over NVIDIA –

 

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

The Bullish Case for MU Stock Micron reported revenues of $23.86 billion in the fiscal second quarter of 2026 and expects revenues to improve further to $33.5 billion in the fiscal third quarter, according to investors.micron.com. As hyperscalers increase their spending on AI infrastructure, Micron’s advanced high-bandwidth memory (“HBM”) chips are witnessing high demand, supporting revenue growth. 

The present supply-demand imbalance in HBM chips gives Micron strong pricing power and underpins a strong long-term growth outlook. Nonetheless, the HBM chips are in demand due to their capability to manage complex workloads while delivering improved power efficiency.  

Also, constrained supply in NAND flash chips is expected to continue through the middle of next year, which could further boost margins. Micron expects a solid gross margin of around 81% for the fiscal third quarter of 2026, showcasing strong financial momentum. 

The Bullish Case for NVDA Stock NVIDIA’s latest strong Data Center performance demonstrated its position as a leader in hyperscale AI infrastructure investment worldwide. In the fiscal first quarter of 2027, NVIDIA’s Data Center segment generated a record $75.2 billion in revenues, up 92% year over year and 21% sequentially, according to nvidia.news.nvidia.com. 

NVIDIA reported revenues of $81.6 billion in the fiscal first quarter of 2027, a new record, up 85% from a year ago and 20% sequentially. Despite its massive size, NVIDIA’s revenues continue to grow, driven by strong demand for its cutting-edge AI chips, networking solutions, and data center infrastructure that support large-scale AI training and inference workloads. NVIDIA projects fiscal second-quarter of 2027 revenues of $91 billion, plus or minus 2%. 

Additionally, NVIDIA continues to deliver strong margins, reflecting its pricing power in graphics processing units (GPUs) and AI accelerators, while maintaining sustained demand for its products across the AI and data center markets. For the fiscal first quarter of 2027, NVIDIA’s non-GAAP gross margin was 75%, and is expected to remain near 75% for the fiscal second quarter of 2027, a tell-tale sign that the company is capable of maintaining strong profitability. 

Micron Has the Edge: Why It’s a Better AI Buy Than NVIDIA Now Strong AI-infrastructure demand is currently driving the bullish outlook for both Micron and NVIDIA. However, Micron appears to offer a more attractive valuation than NVIDIA at the current levels.  

Per the price/earnings ratio, MU trades at 16.65 forward earnings compared with NVDA’s forward earnings multiple of 22.97. Since NVIDIA trades at a premium valuation, the company needs to deliver strong growth to justify further upside. On the other hand, Micron can outperform through steady and sustainable earnings growth.

 

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Additionally, Micron is no longer viewed as a traditional cyclical memory company; it has elevated itself to become a key supplier in the AI infrastructure ecosystem. Micron has sold a significant amount of its HBM capacity through 2026 amid strong AI-driven demand. The HBM supply constraint has given the company a strong pricing power, boosting profit margins, improving revenue visibility and creating further upside potential for the stock.

In contrast, much of NVIDIA’s strong quarterly performance already appears reflected in its share price, and the ongoing China-related export curbs could create pressure on future growth. Therefore, currently Micron looks like the more compelling investment opportunity. 

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

Listen to the audio version of this article (generated by AI).

Everyone wants to find the next Nvidia – legendary investor Louis Navellier thinks a better question might be: Can you hold it once you do?

In today’s Friday Digest takeover, Louis explains why today’s AI boom reminds him of the internet buildout of the late 1990s. Not because he sees a bubble, but because he sees the same mix of massive infrastructure spending, rapid growth, and investors getting shaken out by volatility.

He highlights several companies benefiting from the AI buildout beyond the usual headline names and argues that the opportunity remains much broader than most investors realize.

Most importantly, Louis says the biggest challenge isn’t identifying the trend – it’s staying invested when the market gets choppy.

If you missed it, he expanded on these ideas in a presentation with TradeSmith CEO Keith Kaplan this past Wednesday, where the two discussed a new AI-powered approach to navigating volatility. You can watch the replay right here.

Bottom line: If Louis is right, the investors who benefit most from the AI boom won’t be the ones who find the trend first – but the ones who stick with it.

I’ll let Louis take it from here.

Have a good evening,

Jeff Remsburg

“How much would it cost me to buy you?”

That’s how Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) CEO John Chambers greeted the founder of telecom startup Cerent Corp. in 1999.

Not his company. You.

Cerent had only about $10 million in annual sales, but Cisco paid roughly $6.9 billion in stock because Chambers believed the technology and that founder were critical to the internet buildout.

At the time, Chambers had a simple solution whenever he found a bottleneck:

Buy it.

By the late 1990s, the internet was growing so fast that Cisco couldn’t build products quickly enough to keep up. So it started buying competitors, technologies, and choke points throughout Silicon Valley.

That strategy helped make Cisco the most valuable company in the world for a brief moment in March 2000.

Most people remember what happened next. I remember what came before.

The internet buildout was real. Networks got built, servers got installed, and infrastructure spending exploded. Investors who understood that trend made fortunes.

I’ve been thinking about Cisco lately because we’re watching the same movie again.

The AI buildout is real. First-quarter S&P 500 earnings grew nearly 29% from a year ago — more than double what analysts expected. Analysts keep revising estimates higher. The spending behind this is staggering and it’s accelerating.

That’s what I want to talk about today.

In this piece, I’ll show you four stocks prospering from the AI buildout beyond Nvidia and Micron…

Why I believe this infrastructure boom is still early…

And why the hardest part of the AI trade isn’t finding the right companies. It’s staying with them.

Everybody Wants the Next Nvidia I’ve been investing through major technology shifts for nearly five decades. I was using computers to analyze stocks in the 1970s, long before it became common on Wall Street. Over the years, my quantitative systems helped identify winning stocks such as Apple Inc. (AAPL) and Nike Inc. (NKE) — and Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) and Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) — long before they became household names.

In the late 1990s, everybody wanted the next internet stock. Today, everybody wants the next AI stock.

That’s understandable. Nvidia has become one of the most successful investments in modern market history.

But investors often become so focused on one company that they miss the broader trend unfolding around it.

Artificial intelligence is no longer just a Nvidia story. There are a lot more AI-related stocks prospering now. Memory companies, networking companies, power-generation companies (we used to call those “utilities”)… all are benefiting.

Why? Because AI requires an enormous amount of infrastructure.

The average investor sees ChatGPT or Claude on their browser and thinks software. I see hundreds of billions of dollars flowing into an entirely new computing architecture.

To appreciate the scale, one proposed AI data-center project in Utah would cover nearly three times the area of Manhattan. Similar projects are being planned across the country. These facilities will require thousands upon thousands of chips, servers, and networking systems.

That’s why companies like Micron Technology Inc. (MU) have become so important.

Most investors still think of it as a cyclical memory-chip company from the middle of the country. But on May 26, Micron became Boise, Idaho’s first trillion-dollar company.

Wall Street sees something different. Sales are expected to grow more than 250%. Earnings are expected to rise more than 900%.

Those aren’t normal numbers. They’re what happens when a major technological shift is underway and demand overwhelms supply. Micron has reportedly sold out much of its high-bandwidth memory production under long-term contracts, and analysts expect supply shortages to persist for years.

It’s also why I want you to pay attention to companies like Dell Technologies Inc. (DELL), Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. (HPE), Ciena Corp. (CIEN)… and, yes, Cisco. These aren’t the first names investors think about when they hear “AI,” but they’re increasingly prospering from the buildout.

The opportunity is getting bigger. Not smaller. When a major investment theme spreads beyond a handful of stocks and starts lifting entire industries, it usually means the trend is becoming more durable and more profitable — not less.

That’s what we’re seeing right now.

The Real Risk Isn’t What Most Investors Think I focus on a combination of fundamental and quantitative measures — sales growth, earnings growth, analyst revisions, institutional buying pressure. That’s how my Stock Grader system has identified winning stocks for well over 40 years.

And right now, those indicators continue to point in the right direction. I think many of the best AI and data-center stocks still have substantial upside ahead of them before the year is over.

But being bullish doesn’t mean being complacent.

The spending behind this boom is staggering. Microsoft, Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN), Alphabet Inc. (GOOG), and Meta Platforms Inc. (META) are expected to spend roughly $700 billion on AI infrastructure this year alone. That’s data centers, networking equipment, chips, power generation, and everything needed to support the next generation of AI applications.

Those aren’t startup projections. They’re some of the largest and most successful companies in the world committing enormous capital because they believe AI will reshape the global economy.

The biggest risk facing investors right now isn’t that AI suddenly becomes less popular. It’s not that companies stop spending on data centers. And it’s not that earnings suddenly collapse.

The bigger risk is that investors get shaken out of fundamentally superior stocks during perfectly normal periods of volatility.

I’ve seen it happen throughout my career. A stock pulls back. The headlines get scary. Investors become nervous. They sell. Six months later, the stock is substantially higher.

The late 1990s were full of those moments. Even the biggest winners experienced sharp pullbacks from time to time. Investors who stayed focused on the long-term trend were rewarded. Investors who reacted emotionally often weren’t.

I think we’re approaching a similar period now. The market remains healthy, but summer can get bumpy. Trading volume thins out. Volatility increases. Short sellers become more aggressive.

That’s normal.

And it’s one reason I’ve been spending so much time with Keith Kaplan and the team at TradeSmith. Over the past year, Keith and I have been exploring a new AI-enhanced approach that combines my Stock Grader system with TradeSmith’s pattern-recognition technology. What interested me wasn’t the technology itself. It was the results.

More importantly, it showed how investors can stay with opportunities like Dell, HPE, Ciena, and Cisco when volatility inevitably shows up. Because the hard part isn’t finding promising AI stocks anymore. The trend is staring us in the face. The hard part is staying invested when the headlines turn negative and investors start questioning the same companies they loved a month earlier.

That’s exactly what Keith and I discussed earlier this week.

In our free, special presentation, we show investors how we’re using AI to become more tactical and amplify the gains you can make with the stocks I recommend.

You can watch a replay of the event right here.

Whether it’s Micron, Dell, HPE, Ciena, Cisco — or another company prospering from the AI buildout — the opportunity is still much bigger than most investors realize.

The challenge isn’t finding the trend.

The challenge is staying with it.

Sincerely,

Louis Navellier

Senior Investment Analyst, InvestorPlace