Andrew Slimmon, senior portfolio manager at Morgan Stanley Investment Management, used his recent appearance on Barron’s Streetwise podcast to push back on the loudest narrative in markets right now. “I think about the dot-com bubble, and I don’t think we’re close to it,” Slimmon said. His evidence sits in plain sight on the semiconductor tape, and the cleanest illustration is Micron.
The Valuation Argument Starts With Micron
Host Jack Hough framed the setup by pointing out that Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU | MU Price Prediction) “was recently the third cheapest stock in the S&P 500 if you just look at the price-to-earnings ratio,” despite the company sitting at the center of the AI memory supply chain. Slimmon’s response was that memory stocks “aren’t all that expensive,” recalling that during the actual late-1990s mania “some of them traded to triple-digit multiples.”
The math backs him up. Micron trades at $751 with a trailing PE of 35 and, more importantly, a forward PE of just 8. A PEG ratio of 0.259 signals that earnings growth is outpacing the multiple by a wide margin. In 1999, semiconductor leaders routinely commanded multiples that would imply Micron should be priced several times higher than it is today.
Earnings Are Doing the Heavy Lifting
Slimmon’s broader point is that investors are “being very rational” in how they price AI exposure. The Micron earnings cadence supports that read.
In its most recent quarter, reported March 18, 2026, Micron posted EPS of $12.20 against an estimate of $8.79, a 39% beat. The prior quarter, reported December 17, 2025, delivered $4.78 on revenue of $13.64 billion, up 57% year over year, with the Cloud Memory Business Unit alone contributing $5.28 billion at a 66% gross margin. Fueled by explosive AI growth, actual second-quarter revenue vastly outpaced initial expectations by skyrocketing to $23.86 billion. Order books reportedly stretch deep into 2027.
CEO Sanjay Mehrotra characterized the company’s role directly in the Q1 release, calling Micron “an essential AI enabler,” investing to support customers’ growing need for memory and storage. The numbers in the Q1 fiscal 2026 press release represent booked revenue at expanding margins.
Why the 1999 Comparison Breaks Down
The dot-com era was structurally characterized by capitalized corporate losses. Early internet entities were valued exclusively on unmonetized eyeballs and traffic, with actual bottom-line profitability deferred indefinitely. Conversely, Micron has delivered eight consecutive quarters of dominant EPS beats according to Alpha Vantage data, scaling from $0.42 in early 2024 to $12.20 in its latest quarterly release. Its trailing operating margin currently rests at 68% while its return on equity touches a robust 40%.
The underlying price action admittedly looks completely vertical (Micron is up 163% year to date and 685% over twelve months). Yet, the stock’s forward multiple has systematically compressed because realized earnings are expanding far faster than the equity. That fundamental dynamic is the exact polar opposite of 1999 market behavior.
The Risk Slimmon Is Hedging
Slimmon also looks beyond semis, as he told Hough that “the banks are a key beneficiary” of AI productivity gains and uses financials to offset correlation risk in his AI book. The thesis mirrors the post-bubble reality of the internet: the technology kept driving profits across the broader economy long after the speculative leaders cracked.
Two risks bear watching. The first is that the Wall Street consensus price target on Micron sits at $613, below the current quote, suggesting analysts have not fully caught up to the revised earnings power. Second, retail positioning is heating up. Reddit sentiment hit 85 on May 13 before cooling to 58 by May 23, with active threads asking “When Will It Pop” running alongside aggressive options plays at the $500 strike.
The signal to track is the forward multiple. As long as Micron’s earnings trajectory keeps pace with the share price, Slimmon’s framework holds. A stalled order book or a memory pricing reversal would flip that calculus quickly. For now, the data argues for sober optimism rather than bubble panic.
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