Micron Technology (MU) – Get Report was climbing Tuesday after the maker of memory chips raised its first-quarter guidance.
Shares of the Boise, Idaho-based company were rising 5.12% to $67.38 at last check.
Micron raised its guidance range for adjusted earnings per share for the quarter to 69 cents to 73 cents from 40 cents to 54 cents, for revenue to $5.7 billion to $5.75 billion from $5 billion to $5.4 billion, and for reported gross margin to 28.5% to 29.5% from 25.5% to 27.5%.
Analysts surveyed by FactSet called for first-quarter earnings of 51 cents a share and revenue of $5.3 billion.
Micron President and CEO Sanjay Mehrotra is scheduled to share further updates at Tuesday’s Credit Suisse Annual Technology Conference, Micron said in a statement.
Separately, Wells Fargo analyst Aaron Rakers raised his price target on Micron shares to $75 from $65, while keeping an overweight rating on the shares.
Rakers cited increasing confidence in Micron’s competitive positioning and technology execution and a belief that the company can drive to a $7 per share mid-cycle earnings per share.
Needham analyst Rajvindra Gill raised the price target on Micron to $80 from $65 while keeping a buy rating on the shares.
Gill said that the company made several “important technology announcements” at the Roadmap event, including the transition to EUV lithography for DRAM by 2023.
The analyst said that in NAND memory, Micron is moving to replacement gate technology for its advanced 176-layer process based products, citing improvement over older processes in key areas.