
Micron Technology topped the Nasdaq 100's weekly gainers list, adding over 15% across the past five sessions, as memory chip stocks surged on investor bets that artificial intelligence will drive stronger pricing and demand. Western Digital and Seagate Technologies followed, with gains of 11% and 8.8% respectively.
The standout, however, was SanDisk (which is not on the Nasdaq-100). The stock rose 25.5% on the week and has now climbed a staggering 1,780% since it was spun off from Western Digital and began trading independently in February last year.
Memory chip stocks rebounded after declining the previous week, when a broad market selloff was triggered by U.S. strikes on Iran that have since escalated into a full-blown war.
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.
Expectations that rising DRAM and NAND prices will boost margins for major producers have helped lift the sector, while also adding cost and sales pressures for consumer electronics companies.
The strength comes as Micron prepares to report its fiscal second-quarter results on Wednesday; other memory chip and device companies have reported blowout results for the last quarter.
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.
Analysts expect Micron’s revenue to rise 138% to $19.18 billion and adjusted earnings to rise 455% to $8.66 per share, per Koyfin. They expect the company to forecast third-quarter sales growth of around 142%.
On Stocktwits, the retail sentiment for MU was ‘neutral,’ unchanged from the previous day. Although most users posted upbeat expectations for the results and the stock, some also cautioned about the overhang from the U.S.-Iran war.
“$MU If it weren't for the Iran war, we could have passed 500 by now,” said a user.
The sentiment was ‘bullish’ for SNDK, and ‘neutral’ for STX and WDC. Year to date, MU has gained 49%, SNDK has rocketed 178%, while STX has surged 39.3% and WDC 58%.
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