Micron Technology Inc MU analysts lowered near-term price targets on Thursday following the company’s first-quarter earnings results. Despite the disappointing quarter, analysts generally remain optimistic for the long term, especially in the High-Bandwidth Memory market.
Micron Q1 Earnings: Micron reported mixed first-quarter results, beating adjusted earnings estimates of $1.76 per share by 3 cents, but narrowly missing on revenue.
Micron also issued weak guidance for the current quarter. The company said it expects second-quarter revenue of $7.9 billion, plus or minus $200 million, versus estimates of $9 billion. Micron sees second-quarter adjusted earnings of $1.43 per share, plus or minus 10 cents per share, versus estimates of $1.92 per share.
Although the company noted that consumer-oriented markets were weaker in the near term, Micron laid out expectations for a return to growth in the second half of its fiscal year.
Goldman Sachs Reiterates Buy: Goldman Sachs analyst Toshiya Hari reiterated Buy following the print, but cut the price target from $145 to $128.
The analyst acknowledged that he was wrong on Micron over the past six months and cut estimates accordingly. However, Hari expects strength in High-Bandwidth Memory and resiliency in server DRAM to more than offset weakness in other areas moving forward.
“We see the stock's recent pullback, if anything, as an opportunity to add to positions as we continue to envision a) growth in AI compute … initially in the core Data Center but ultimately at the Edge, b) market share gains for Micron in the high-margin HBM and eSSD markets, and c) supply-side discipline on the part of Micron and its peers,” the Goldman analyst said.
Wedbush Maintains Outperform: Wedbush analyst Matt Bryson maintained Micron with an Outperform and lowered the price target from $140 to $125
The Wedbush analyst believes demand headwinds due to Blackwell delays slowing AI server installations and customers moderating pricing will be short-lived. Bryson noted that he believes demand is set to improve in the second quarter.
“While MU’s FQ2 outlook is clearly disappointing, we see many of the factors weighing on MU’s guidance as short-term in nature,” the analyst said.
Bryson’s new target is based on a price-to-earnings multiple of 9x applied to the firm’s fiscal year 2026 estimates.
Check This Out: Trump Would ‘Lead The Charge’ To Scrap Debt Ceiling: 30-Year Treasury Bonds Slide To 2024 Lows, Stocks Cut Gains
Rosenblatt Reiterates Buy: Rosenblatt analyst Hans Mosesmann reiterated Micron with a Buy rating and maintained a Street-high price target of $250, despite acknowledging that the company’s near-term outlook was “significantly below” the firm’s expectations.
“We are buyers of MU shares on the likely reset today, which is driven by the more non-strategic storage area and NAND,” Mosesmann said.
The Rosenblatt analyst expects Micron to continue to gain share in the High-Bandwidth Memory segment as power efficiency becomes increasingly important.
Mosesmann’s Street-high price target is based on a mid-teens price-to-earnings multiple on fiscal year 2026 earnings estimates of $18 per share.
BofA Downgrades To Neutral: BofA Securities analyst Vivek Arya took the most negative view of Micron’s earnings, downgrading shares from Buy to Neutral and lowering the price target from $125 to $110.
“We were below consensus heading into MU’s FQ1 (Nov) results, but are reducing estimates again as GM expected to stay weak in Q2 and even Q3,” Arya said.
Although the analyst highlighted strong data center and High-Bandwidth Memory trends, he’s concerned that weakness in PC and phone markets will continue to put pressure on memory pricing.
The BofA analyst lowered fiscal year 2025 estimates by 5% and fiscal year 2026 estimates by 11%, and arrived at a new price target of $110 by putting a 2x multiple on 2026 price-to-book estimates.
MU Price Action: Micron shares were down 16.50% at $86.76 at the time of publication Thursday, according to Benzinga Pro.
Read Next:
Photo: Courtesy of Micron
© 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
