Micron Technology Inc. (MU) – Get Report shares jumped higher Tuesday after analysts at Citigroup published a ‘double upgrade’ on the chipmaker just days ahead of its first quarter earnings report.
Citigroup analyst Christopher Dan lifted his rating on Micron to ‘buy’ from ‘sell, while boosting his price target by $65 to $100 per share, citing a “long awaited upturn” in the market for dynamic random-access memory, or DRAM, semiconductors amid what he calls the “largest supply/demand imbalance since 2017”.
Deutsche Bank also boosted its price target by $10 to $85 a share Tuesday, while RBC Capital Markets raised its own price target by $26 to $83 per share.
Micron shares were marked 3.85% higher in pre-market trading Tuesday to indicate an opening bell price of $76.90 each, a move that would extend the stock’s six-month gain to around 51%.
Last month, Micron shares hit a 20-year high after the chipmaker lifted its first quarter profit outlook with a forecast of adjusted earnings in the range of 69 cents to 73 cents per share on sales of around $5.75 billion. Micron will publish its formal first quarter earnings after the close of trading Thursday.
Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra told investors at a Credit Suisse event on December 1 that he was “pleased with how Micron executed with strength, both coming from DRAM and NAND” as well as “strength coming in terms of volume in DRAM and NAND as well as with respect to pricing.”
“When I look at DRAM, beyond the seasonally weak calendar first quarter, I expect that strength will continue to build up in DRAM through the course of the year with all the industry’s supply considerations, but more importantly all the demand drivers that continue to build up nicely for DRAM,” Mehrotra said. “Whether it is in the cloud or it is on the edge, DRAM will do well for us during the course of 2021.”