After experiencing a strong downtrend at the start of September and trading near $87 through much of the month, Micron (NASDAQ: MU) stock suddenly exploded in extended session trading between Wednesday, September 25, and Thursday, September 26.
To be precise, MU shares ended the last session 1.88% in the green at $95.77% but then rocketed more than 15% to Micron’s price today, at press time, of $110.36. The uptrend started in after-hours trading with almost a 15% rally in less than 60 minutes and persisted into the early pre-market.
The technology giant’s latest earnings report is the main reason behind the surge, as the company beat Wall Street’s expectations decisively. For example, the earnings-per-share (EPS) came in at $1.18 instead of the forecasted $1.11.
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Revenue was likewise impressive, amounting to $7.75 billion rather than the expected $7.65 billion.
Micron expects strong results to continue into 2025
Micron further boosted investor optimism by issuing a strong guidance for 2025 as it revealed it expects EPS to rise to $1.74 and revenue to surge to between $8.50 and $8.90 billion.
In its latest report, Micron also had a strong narrative, given that part of its stellar results can be attributed to the ongoing high demand for artificial intelligence (AI) microchips.
AI has been a hot topic and a major driver of stock market growth since at least late 2022 – the time ChatGPT was released for public use and enabled some firms – Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) – to rapidly rocket by trillions of dollars in value.
Street experts set MU stock price for 2025
Wall Street experts were overwhelmingly bullish even ahead of the latest earnings report.
Out of the 42 analysts that have revised their MU stock price target in the last three months and are represented on TradingView, as many as 39 rate the company’s shares as either a ‘strong buy’ or a ‘buy.’
Another two are, at press time on September 26, ‘neutral’ on the stock and only one believes it to be a ‘strong sell.’
Given such opinions about Micron shares, it comes as no surprise that the stock is, on average, expected to rise another 63.69% from its latest closing price and reach $156.77 in the coming 12 months.
The most recent revisions have also been optimistic. On September 25, for example, Baird rated MU as a ‘buy’ and set its price target at $172.
Two days earlier, on September 23, Rosenblatt opted for an even higher forecast of $225, and JPMorgan (NYSE: JPM) opted for a similarly bullish $180.
Micron stock price chart
Whatever happens with MU shares in the long run, the latest extended session stands in stark contrast to Micron stock’s recent performance.
For example, without after-hours trading, the tech giant is 3.17% in the red in the 30-day chart, but once it is accounted for, the figure turns into a 12.77% rise.
Given the bullish turn, Micron may be about to fully regain its upward momentum, which, despite being largely lost by mid-June, enabled the stock to be 16.31% in the green on the year-to-date (YTD) chart.
