Micron stock is up 170% this year. Why does the analyst expect growth of another 30%?

Analyst Needham raised his target price on shares of Micron Technology from $200 to $300 ahead of the company's quarterly report on Wednesday, December 17, according to Barron's. The memory chip maker posted one of its best results in 2025, with its shares up 175% versus the Nasdaq Composite's 19% rise.

Needham analyst Quinn Bolton raised his target price for Micron Technology shares from $200 to $300, which implies a potential upside of about 30% from current levels, confirming a recommendation to buy the securities, Barron's reports. According to him, the growth of prices for memory chips will last several quarters, which will favorably affect the shares of Micron.

"Demand conditions in the data center market remain robust. We expect the surge in spot market prices should lead to higher contract prices over the next few quarters," the analyst wrote .

Bolton noted that average prices for memory chips during Micron's first fiscal quarter rose 162% year-on-year. The analyst expects the supply of memory chips to remain tight in the near term as large manufacturers will not be able to significantly increase production. "The industry's supply-demand ratio continues to tighten and is not expected to improve in fiscal 2026," Bolton said.

Micron shares were up 1.4 percent at the open of trading on Dec. 17, rising from $232.51 to $235.76.

Micron is among the world's largest manufacturers of dynamic random access memory (DRAM) used in desktop computers and servers, and flash memory (NAND) used in smartphones and solid state drives.

Bloomberg notes that what sets Micron apart from many other beneficiaries of the artificial intelligence trend is its relatively low valuation. Even with growth this year, the stock is valued at 11 times Micron's projected earnings for the next 12 months. That's one of the lowest ratios among major chip makers, Bloomberg notes.

The DRAM and NAND memory market is globally controlled by Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron, with Micron in third place with a share of about 20-26%, TrendForce's data shows. The company is also rapidly strengthening its position in the high-bandwidth memory (HBM) market, looking to become one of the key solution providers for artificial intelligence servers.

The increase in the target price of Micron securities by analyst Needham occurred ahead of the publication of the quarterly report, which the company will make public after the close of trading on December 17.

Expectations are high: pressure is mounting on the company amid increasing investor skepticism about the prospects of the AI sector, particularly after the release of disappointing market financials from Oracle and Broadcom, Bloomberg explains. "The company [Micron] should continue to see accelerating growth. If we see a slowdown, it could be devastating for the stock," Navellier & Associates head Louis Navellier told the agency.

Micron's market capitalization has risen 176% this year, the fifth best performance in the S&P 500 index, Bloomberg calculates. The company is thus on track for its best year since 2013. Since hitting a high on Dec. 10, however, Micron shares have turned to the downside, losing 12% over the past four days. The quarterly report may either regain the momentum of their growth, or intensify the fall, notes Bloomberg.

Wall Street expects Micron's revenue for the quarter ended November to be $12.9 billion; adjusted EPS is estimated at $3.96. The company's revenue for the current quarter is expected to be $14.3 billion; EPS is expected to be $4.78, Barron's reports.

Among analysts who monitor Micron shares, the majority - 37 - advise the company's securities to buy, two recommend holding and only one sell, MarketWatch data show.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor