Micron Stock Is Soaring Thursday: What's Going On?

Micron Technology Inc MU shares are surging Thursday after the company reported better-than-expected quarterly results and issued an upbeat outlook. Multiple analysts also lifted price targets on the stock following the print.

What Happened: Micron reported first-quarter revenue of $5.82 billion, which beat the consensus estimate of $5.342 billion. The company reported a surprise profit of 42 cents per share, which beat analyst estimates for a loss of 25 cents per share.

Operating cash flow came in at $1.22 billion, up from $343 million in the prior year's quarter, but down from $1.4 billion quarter-over-quarter. Adjusted free cash flow came in at negative $29 million for the quarter.

“Micron delivered fiscal Q2 results with revenue, gross margin and EPS well above the high-end of our guidance range — a testament to our team’s excellent execution on pricing, products and operations,” said Sanjay Mehrotra, president and CEO of Micron.

“Our preeminent product portfolio positions us well to deliver a strong fiscal second half of 2024. We believe Micron is one of the biggest beneficiaries in the semiconductor industry of the multi-year opportunity enabled by AI.”

Outlook: Micron expects fiscal third-quarter revenue of $6.6 billion, plus or minus $200 million, versus estimates of $6 billion. The company anticipates third-quarter adjusted earnings of 38 cents to 52 cents per share versus estimates of 20 cents per share.

On the conference call, Micron said strong demand for its AI servers is driving growth in high-bandwidth memory, positively impacting pricing across memory and storage end markets. Micron said it anticipates further price hikes for DRAM and NAND products throughout the year.

Check This Out: Micron’s Q2 Earnings Growth Fueled By AI — High Bandwidth Memory Investments Key

Analyst Changes:

• Keybanc analyst John Vinh maintained Micron with an Overweight and raised the price target from $115 to $135.

• Needham analyst Quinn Bolton maintained Micron with a Buy and raised the price target from $100 to $120.

• Rosenblatt analyst Hans Mosesmann maintained Micron with a Buy and raised the price target from $140 to $225.

• Argus Research analyst Jim Kelleher upgraded Micron from Hold to Buy.

MU Price Action: Micron shares were up 17.7% at $113.20 at the time of publication, according to Benzinga Pro.

Photo: courtesy of Micron.