Micron has become one of the market’s most aggressive expressions of the artificial intelligence hardware boom, with its shares climbing more than 240% over the last year as investors crowd into high‑end memory. The rally has now drawn a bold new call from TD Cowen, which argues that a powerful, extended upcycle in memory chips could keep pushing the stock higher. I see that thesis resting on three pillars: Micron’s operating rebound, a structurally tighter supply backdrop, and a growing consensus that earnings are still catching up to the share price.
At the same time, the stock’s surge has sharpened the debate over valuation and cyclicality, especially for investors who remember how brutal past memory downturns have been. The latest targets from Wall Street, and the way other institutions are positioning around Micron, show how sharply opinions are dividing between those who see a classic late‑cycle blowoff and those who see the early innings of a multi‑year AI infrastructure buildout.
Micron’s stock run and TD Cowen’s supercharged target
Micron’s recent performance has been extraordinary by any large‑cap standard, with the stock described as “red hot” and now up more than 240% over the last year as investors reprice the company for an AI‑driven memory cycle. That kind of move reflects not just enthusiasm for Micron’s own execution, but also a broader belief that high‑bandwidth memory and advanced DRAM are becoming strategic assets for data centers, cloud providers, and chip designers racing to train larger models. In that context, Micron has shifted from being treated as a commodity supplier to being seen as a critical enabler of the next generation of AI infrastructure.
It is against that backdrop that Cowen has stepped out with one of the most aggressive targets on the Street, lifting its price objective on Micron to $450 from $300 and reiterating a Buy rating on the shares. A separate breakdown of the call notes that this target implies roughly 22.7% upside from recent levels, underscoring how much room Cowen still sees even after the stock’s massive run. The firm’s argument is that memory pricing and demand are set up for a prolonged upcycle, and that Micron’s positioning in leading‑edge products should allow it to outgrow peers in the near term.
Fundamentals: revenue snapback and earnings power
Underpinning the bullishness is a sharp improvement in Micron’s operating profile, which is now showing up clearly in the top line. Revenue for Micron Technology has rebounded to a trailing twelve‑month figure of $42.31 Billion USD, a level that reflects both recovering pricing and surging unit demand for advanced memory. On a more granular basis, Micron Technology Revenue reached $13.64 billion in the quarter ending in late November, with growth running at a striking 56.65%. Those numbers are consistent with a company moving out of a cyclical trough and into a period where utilization, pricing, and mix are all turning in its favor.
On the bottom line, Analysts are signaling that the earnings recovery could be even more dramatic than the revenue rebound. Forecasts now point to a potential 300% surge in EPS for Micron Technology by fiscal 2026, a trajectory that would justify a premium multiple if it materializes. That kind of earnings ramp is exactly what TD Cowen is baking into its target, and it helps explain why some long‑term holders are willing to look past near‑term volatility in the stock. In my view, the key question is not whether earnings will grow, but how much of that growth is already embedded in expectations after such a steep share‑price climb.
AI memory cycle: why this time looks different
The core of Cowen’s thesis is that the current memory upturn is not just another short‑lived inventory cycle, but part of a longer structural shift driven by AI workloads. Micron Technology, Inc is being highlighted among the Buzzing AI Stocks Analysts are Watching, with the firm seen as a prime beneficiary of a prolonged memory cycle that could extend into the second half of 2026 and beyond. That view rests on the idea that training and inference for large language models require far more DRAM and high‑bandwidth memory per GPU than traditional cloud workloads, and that this intensity will only increase as models scale.
Other market observers are reaching similar conclusions, pointing to Micron’s role in supplying memory for AI accelerators used by companies like Micron Technology and Nvidia in cutting‑edge data centers. One recent analysis of the 2 Best Stocks to Invest $1,000 in Right Now notes that The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Micron Technology and, effectively pairing a leading memory supplier with a leading GPU designer as complementary AI plays. I see that pairing as a useful shorthand for how investors are thinking about the stack: GPUs may get the headlines, but without enough high‑performance memory, the entire system bottlenecks.
Valuation, volatility, and how the market is positioned
Even with the AI narrative in full swing, Micron’s valuation metrics show a company that is expensive relative to its own history but still within the realm of large‑cap growth. Key Statistics on one trading platform list a Price Earnings ratio of 37.99, alongside a modest Dividend yield of 0.12% and an Average volume of 35.54M shares. Those figures suggest that while Micron is no longer the deep‑value cyclical it once was, the market is still pricing it as a company with substantial earnings leverage ahead rather than a fully mature cash cow.
Trading data reinforce just how actively investors are repositioning around the name. Micron Technology Inc MU on the NASDAQ recently showed a Close of 399.65, a daily move of 2.07 points or 0.52%, on Volume of 32,768,317 shares and a 52 week range stretching from 61.54 to 412.43. Earlier this month, Shares of Micron on the NYSE jumped 5.9% in one afternoon session after multiple firms raised their targets, a reminder that sentiment can swing quickly as new data points arrive. For investors, that volatility cuts both ways: it can amplify gains in a favorable tape, but it also means that any disappointment on pricing or capex could trigger sharp pullbacks.
How other analysts and institutions are reacting
TD Cowen is not alone in its optimism, even if its target sits at the high end of the range. A recent deep dive into Micron’s trajectory framed the question “Is Micron still a buy?” and concluded that, As the company’s own forecast shows, Micron expects strong industry dynamics and demand growth to persist, supporting the case that Is Micron still a buy for investors looking at 2026. Another note on the 2 Best Stocks to Invest $1,000 in Right Now went further, suggesting that Why This AI cycle could make Micron one of the standout beneficiaries among semiconductor names, particularly for those willing to ride out the inevitable bumps.
At the same time, institutional flows show that not every large holder is simply buying and forgetting. One filing disclosed that International Assets Investment Management LLC had sold shares of Micron Technology, even as a number of research analysts, including Royal Bank Of Canada, have been initiating or updating coverage on the name. That mix of profit‑taking and fresh bullish research captures the tension in the stock: the story is compelling, but the easy money may already have been made. For investors trying to navigate that tension, it is worth remembering that platforms such as Google Finance stress the importance of treating their market data as informational rather than as personalized investment advice, a useful reminder to ground any decision in a broader view of risk, time horizon, and portfolio fit.
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