Micron Stock Jumps Ahead Of Q2 Earnings — Lifts SanDisk, WDC, Seagate Too: Retail Gets More Bullish

The majority of the market expects a blowout quarterly report from Micron. But with expectations running high, some traders are already locking in profits.

• MU stock shot up nearly 3%, alongside gains in SNDK, WDC and STX stocks.
• Micron will report second-quarter earnings after the markets close on Wednesday.
• Stocktwits sentiment shifted to ‘extremely bullish’ from ‘bullish.’

Top memory chip stocks rose sharply in early premarket trading on Wednesday, ahead of Micron Technology’s quarterly report due after the close, amid a broader market rebound.

Micron shares gained nearly 3%, while SanDisk, Western Digital and Seagate Technology were up between 2.6% and 3.6%, also aided by a broader market rebound.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures inched up early Wednesday, as investors counted down to the Fed's meeting. Reports that Nvidia is restarting manufacturing of its H200 processors for sale in China also helped underpin AI sentiment.

Micron shares have gained 25% in the last seven sessions, suggesting incredible optimism for the company. On Stocktwits, retail sentiment for MU shifted to ‘extremely bullish’ from ‘bullish’ the previous day.

Wedbush, which raised its target on MU stock to $500 from $320 last week, said it expects Micron to report that both the results and third guidance will be well ahead of Wall Street’s expectations. Wells Fargo raised its price target as well, to $470 from $410.

A massive expansion of data centers and AI servers is driving demand for large amounts of DRAM and high-bandwidth memory, tightening supply and pushing memory prices higher after a prolonged downturn. 

The shortage and the resulting price shock have driven shares of top memory chip companies higher over the past year. On Monday, Chey Tae-won, chairman of South Korea’s SK Group, one of the largest memory chip companies in the world, said the global chip wafer shortage is likely to persist until 2030. 

Analysts expect a smashing quarterly report from Micron. Revenue is expected to rise 138% to $19.18 billion, and adjusted earnings are expected to rise 455% to $8.66 per share, per Koyfin. They expect the company to forecast third-quarter sales growth of around 142%.

That said, some retail traders on Stocktwits also believed the upside was largely priced into stock prices and that the post-results move would be muted. As such, some booked profits. “Unloaded half (of my holding),” a user said.

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