Profit-Taking Sends Micron Tumbling From $819 Record, Yet Analysts Refuse to Blink on $1,100 Target
Published on 05/19/2026 at 09:02 | Redaktion boerse-global.de
The Micron Technology narrative has never been more polarized. Less than a week after touching an all-time high of $819, the stock plunged to $663 on Monday before clawing back toward the $700 level. The selloff was textbook profit-taking — but it comes at a moment when Wall Street analysts are issuing their most aggressive price targets yet.
Melius Research lifted its target to $1,100 on Monday, a 57% premium to Friday’s close and the highest on the Street. Citi nearly doubled its forecast to $840. Both upgrades landed in the middle of a broader semiconductor rout that saw investors flee richly valued AI and tech names after higher-than-expected US inflation data pushed Treasury yields higher.
Yet the fundamental case for Micron has rarely been stronger. Citi projects the company will raise DRAM prices by 40% this quarter, and Gartner expects a 125% jump for the full year. The structural driver is High-Bandwidth Memory (HBM), the specialized chips essential for AI model training. Micron’s entire HBM output is already sold out through 2026, and industry-wide supply constraints are expected to persist at least until 2028 because new fabs take years to ramp.
Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying Micron?
The revenue story is already in the numbers. Last quarter, Micron posted $23.86 billion in sales, a 196% year-over-year surge. Gross margins and free cash flow hit record levels. For the current period, analysts expect a further leap to $33.5 billion when the company reports on June 24. Earnings per share are forecast to vault from $1.91 to more than $19.
None of that stopped the market from hitting the sell button. Since the start of 2024, Micron shares had more than doubled, gaining 117%. Over twelve months, the rally topped 570%. After that kind of run, any spark of bad news triggers a stampede. This week’s triggers include a potential strike at rival Samsung in South Korea, fears of supply chain disruption, a secondary share sale by TSMC that rattled global confidence, and rising production costs tied to scarce rare earths.
Micron is betting heavily that demand will outlast the noise. The company plans roughly $25 billion in capital spending in fiscal 2026, with much of it going toward a new fab in New York state that will manufacture cutting-edge 1-gamma DRAM. The rationale: global production capacity currently covers only 50% to 75% of surging AI memory demand. Without these investments, the gap would only widen.
Investors will get a fresh look at management’s thinking this Wednesday at the J.P. Morgan Global Technology Conference in Boston. The leadership team is expected to field questions on pricing power, capacity expansion, and the near-term demand trajectory. The conference could either soothe nerves or fuel more volatility — but with HBM booked out for years and analysts still reaching for $1,100, the bull case remains firmly intact beneath the short-term turbulence.
Ad
Micron Stock: New Analysis - 19 May
Fresh Micron information released. What's the impact for investors? Our latest independent report examines recent figures and market trends.
Disclaimer regarding our articles: No investment advice, no buy or sell recommendation. Information on prices, companies, and markets is provided without guarantee; changes are possible at any time. Stock market transactions can lead to substantial losses. Our articles are created and reviewed in whole or in part automatically with the support of AI.
