What to Expect When Micron Reports Thursday

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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