Micron (NASDAQ:MU) will be releasing its August quarter (FQ4) results next Tuesday (September 23), and it looks like the Street is increasingly confident the memory giant is about to deliver a strong readout.
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That growing optimism has already started to show up in analyst actions. Over the past week, several price target hikes have rolled in, and now another top analyst has joined the chorus.
UBS’s Timothy Arcuri, who ranks 5th among thousands of Street stock experts, has raised his MU price target from $155 to $185, implying an 18% upside over the next year. Arcuri’s rating stays a Buy. (To watch Arcuri’s track record, click here)
Recall, Micron already raised its FQ4 guide in August, and going by Arcuri’s latest industry checks, the “ongoing strength” will see the company deliver a solid guide for F1Q26 (November quarter). “To this end,” says the 5-star analyst, “we flag demand from hyperscalers for server DDR5 remaining very robust, with all major US customers now seeking LTAs into C2026.”
Meanwhile, in NAND, US hyperscalers seem to be “pursuing” long-term agreements into 2026, sometimes structured as combined DDR5 and SSD deals. Much of the additional demand is concentrated on eSSDs, partly due to ongoing tightness in the HDD market.
As for HBM, Arcuri continues to forecast industry demand at roughly 16.9 billion Gb in CY25 and 26.1 billion Gb in CY26, despite some delays in HBM4 qualification timelines due to Nvidia raising pin speed and bandwidth requirements from 8Gbps to 10Gbps. HBM is critical for AI given its ability to deliver the high bandwidth and low latency needed to train and run increasingly large models.
For Micron, this could necessitate some rework of its internal logic base die, but Arcuri still expects the company to achieve qualification by year-end and begin volume shipments in 2026. “Even with the change in spec for HBM4 causing MU to have to rework its logic base die,” Arcuri expounded on the matter, “we believe MU will retain a strong competitive position and expect management’s narrative around HBM to remain very bullish.”
MU shares have enjoyed a strong runup in 2025, climbing by 87% year-to-date. Nevertheless, despite “improving fundaments,” Arcuri thinks investor interest in Micron is still “surprisingly muted.”
Arcuri believes his thesis over the past year holds – that HBM “crowds out” the traditional memory market, tightening supply and giving Micron the ability to direct bits toward higher-value opportunities. “This dynamic should only intensify in C2026 until new shell capacity comes online, supporting more durability/stability of the cycle and allowing MU to move margins higher,” Arcuri further said.
Even a development that is traditionally seen as a negative likely won’t darken sentiment. A “potential investor blind spot” on this call could be capex, as Micron is likely to provide guidance for F2026. Arcuri anticipates DRAM capex across the industry will rise significantly in C2026, and for Micron specifically, the analyst models capex increasing to around $18.5 billion, representing roughly 35% of sales. While historically, large capex increases have weighed on memory stocks, Arcuri believes Micron has “such a strong HBM roadmap and supply will remain constrained across all product categories through C2026 and maybe into C2027.”
Turning now to the rest of the Street, where MU stock gets the support of 24 other analysts, while an additional 4 Holds can’t detract from a Strong Buy consensus rating. However, going by the $156.15 average price target, shares are now fully valued. As such, watch out for either further price target increases or rating downgrades shortly. (See MU stock forecast)
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Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the featured analyst. The content is intended to be used for informational purposes only. It is very important to do your own analysis before making any investment.