Micron Technology stock has been on a stellar run and earnings could power the memory-chip maker’s shares even higher, according to analysts at KeyBanc.
The shares have risen nearly sixfold in the past 12 months on a surge of demand for its memory chips to power artificial-intelligence hardware, driving up prices across the sector. Even so, as Barron’s noted last week, Micron is the cheapest stock in the S&P 500 on a forward price-to-earnings ratio.
That’s an opportunity for KeyBanc analyst John Vinh, who named Micron as one of the chip stocks with the best risk/reward ratio heading into earnings season. He has an Overweight rating and $600 target price on the stock, which was down 2.7% at $409.40 in trading Monday. The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average were down 0.3% and 0.7%, respectively.
“We expect Micron will post better results and higher guidance, supported by a structurally stronger-for-longer memory cycle driven by hyperscaler demand and constrained supply,” Vinh wrote in a research note Sunday.
The KeyBanc analyst forecasts Micron will report fiscal third-quarter revenue of $35.1 billion and earnings per share of $20.54, beating consensus estimates of $33.8 billion and $19.26, respectively. Micron is set to report earnings in late June.
Near-term earnings don’t tell the full story. Memory chips are notoriously cyclical, meaning the industry goes through cycles of boom and bust. However, demand for memory is expected to outstrip supply until at least the middle of next year when substantial new manufacturing capacity will come online.
“We still expect strong q/q [quarter-on-quarter] pricing gains of +30-50% in 2Q26 [the second quarter of 2026], with meaningful new capacity not expected until at least 2027,” wrote Vinh.
Micron is the chief rival of South Korea’s Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix in making high-bandwidth memory chips, which are crucial for the latest AI chips. Samsung,SK Hynix, and Micron are alljockeying for positionto supply the latest HBM4 chips toNvidiaand other AI chip makers.
Vinh said he expects Micron to support Nvidia’s next-generation Vera Rubin AI chips this year, although HBM4 qualification issues could temper early volumes.