What to Expect When Micron Reports Thursday

By Chris Lange Updated Jan 12, 2:15AM EST · Published Mar 20, 1:45PM EDT

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What to Expect When Micron Reports Thursday — © courtesy of Micron Technology Inc.

Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) is scheduled to release its fiscal second-quarter financial results after the markets close on Thursday. The consensus estimates from Thomson Reuters are calling for $2.74 in earnings per share (EPS) on $7.28 billion in revenue. The same period of last year reportedly had EPS of $0.90 and $4.65 billion in revenue.

Recently, Nomura Instinet issued the most bullish call in the history of Micron. The analyst, Romit Shah, reiterated a Buy rating for Micron and raised the price target to $100 from $55. Shah believes that this stock is on the verge of another major breakout.

Earnings estimates for the chipmaker were also raised. The firm expects to see per-share earnings for the 2019 fiscal year (ending in August) to be $12.22, up from $11.78. Keep in mind that the consensus estimate is stuck at $8.71 per share.

Overall, Nomura Instinet sees DRAM pricing resuming an upward trend in the second quarter. This directly contradicts what Wall Street is calling for, which is about a 5% to 6% decline over the next four quarters.

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Shah detailed in the report that memory prices have dropped about 3% so far in 2018, which fares well compared with the 10% to 20% seasonal decline that the market has seen in the past few years. Another prediction from Shah is that prices will rise by roughly 10% over the next six months.

At the same time, the firm believes that a first-time dividend and share buyback are coming in May, as well as continued margin expansion in NAND and the potential for M&A. All this combined potentially provides for a very bright future for this stock.

Excluding Tuesday’s move, Micron has outperformed the broad markets with its stock up 133% in the past 52 weeks. In just 2018 alone, the stock is up 46%.

A few other analysts weighed in on Micron ahead of the earnings report:

Credit Suisse has an Outperform rating with a $70 price target.
Susquehanna has a Positive rating with an $80 price target.
Deutsche Bank has a Buy rating and a $65 price target.
Mizuho has a Buy rating with a $66 target price.
Evercore ISI has an Outperform rating with an $80 target.
Nomura has a Buy rating.
KeyCorp has an Overweight rating and a $65 price target.

Shares of Micron were last seen up 1.4% at $60.95 on Tuesday, with a consensus analyst price target of $62.75 and a 52-week range of $25.43 to $63.42.

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About the Author Chris Lange →

Chris Lange is a writer for 24/7 Wall St., based in Houston. He has covered financial markets over the past decade with an emphasis on healthcare, tech, and IPOs. During this time, he has published thousands of articles with insightful analysis across these complex fields. Currently, Lange's focus is on military and geopolitical topics.

Lange's work has been quoted or mentioned in Forbes, The New York Times, Business Insider, USA Today, MSN, Yahoo, The Verge, Vice, The Intelligencer, Quartz, Nasdaq, The Motley Fool, Fox Business, International Business Times, The Street, Seeking Alpha, Barron’s, Benzinga, and many other major publications.

A graduate of Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, Lange majored in business with a particular focus on investments. He has previous experience in the banking industry and startups.