Key Points
- Shares of Micron have been rallying hard since last year, with 50% in gains from the past few weeks alone.
- The company is far from taking a break; it looks like it will keep up this pace for the rest of the quarter.
- Several key tailwinds are in place to support this, and investors should be excited.
- 5 stocks we like better than Micron Technology
As far as first quarters go, Q1 has got to be one of the greatest ever for Micron Technology, Inc. NASDAQ: MU. The semiconductor stock had already logged a solid 2023, gaining close to 70%, but from the middle of February through the middle of last week, it went on to gain just as much again.
For a while there, Micron was experiencing its longest winning streak ever. And while you might think that the stock could take a break now, it looks like there's still a ton more upside to be uncovered.
Bullish Analyst Comments
During the past two weeks, upwards of 20 analysts have given fresh updates on the stock and every one of them has been positive. Last week alone, the teams at Bank of America and Citigroup reiterated their Buy ratings, with Bank of America giving Micron shares a new price target of $144 and Citi giving them one of $150.
These moves have already been echoed again this week, with KeyCorp and Cantor Fitzgerald both reiterating their bullish stances and boosting their price targets to $150. Considering Micron closed Tuesday's session at $122, having briefly topped $130 last week, we're looking for at least an additional 22% upside from current levels. Not bad for a stock that has gained more than 100% in the past year, right?
So, what exactly are the drivers behind all this bullish price action and stances? And how should those of us on the sidelines think about getting involved?
AI Tailwinds
Well, for starters, it's no secret that semiconductor stocks have been at the forefront of the explosion of the artificial intelligence (AI) industry, as chips and semiconductors are key products needed to harness the power of AI.
And even though we're coming up on a year since that tailwind truly emerged, the most recent reports suggest that demand for semiconductors is only increasing as it stays ahead of what even the most bullish analysts expect. Part of Citi's upgrade last week was based on February chip sales coming in ahead of expectations and above seasonality.
The point has also been made recently that Micron has benefited from an upswing in things like dynamic RAM pricing. With high-bandwidth memory being a critical component for AI products, analysts expect this to continue acting as a key tailwind to Micron's revenue. For context, Micron is expected to generate around $700 million from this business line in 2024, but this could easily jump to as much as $3 billion by the end of 2025.
Smoking the Competition
There's also the fact that Micron has managed to steer clear of falling out with China. Competitors Advanced Micro Devices and Intel two have struggled to get the green light to sell into that market, which has spooked investors and started to become a serious handbrake to any share price momentum. Case in point: consider the 50% that Micron has gained since the middle of February, against AMD's -4% drop and Intel's -13% drop.
Even against much larger competitor NVIDIA Corp., Micron is crushing. NVIDIA, long considered one of the best semiconductors to own and the one with the most potential, has only tacked on 18% since the middle of February.
While it's true that NVIDIA easily outperforms Micron when the timeline is pushed back to include 2023 and before, this recent underperformance against a key peer suggests NVIDIA investors think the company has seen enough gains for the moment. At the same time, it makes it look like Micron investors are in catch-up mode, which means Micron will likely keep being called a must-own stock for the foreseeable future.
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