Just as Micron (NASDAQ: MU) stock soared 5.58% and crossed above $1,000 for the first time in history with the June 1 morning bell, one prominent Wall Street expert elected to effectively double her 12-month forecast for MU shares.
Specifically, Raymond James’ Melissa Fairbanks elected to replace the previous $530 price target with a new $1,100 prediction for a 107.55% increase while reissuing the previous ‘Overweight’ – ‘Buy’ – rating.
According to the Wall Street analyst, the prevailing ‘demand environment’ backed by recent figures from Taiwan and South Korea does much to support the new 12-month forecast for Micron stock.
However, Fairbanks also noted that there has been some investor pushback in the wake of MU shares’ explosive rally that has been ongoing almost continuously since late March, perhaps explaining why the new price target represents a relatively modest 7.3% predicted upside from the press-time price of $1,025.16.
Wall Street sets Micron stock price target for the next 12 months
Elsewhere, zooming out reveals the impact Micron stock’s recent upsurge has had on expert outlook for the memory giant.
Indeed, despite being overall rated as a ‘Strong Buy’ on the equity analysis platform TipRanks, MU shares are, on average, expected to decline as much as 19.67% to $825.37 in the coming 12 months.
The apparent contradiction is likely the result of consensus estimates generally being based on all notes that were issued – and that haven’t been updated at a more recent date – within the last three months.
On March 2 – the earliest date from which price targets are taken into account – Micron stock was changing hands at $412. Simultaneously, the relatively slow pace of expert updates also serves to explain the difference between the rating and the 12-month forecast.
Through May, only a dozen major institutions reiterated or altered their MU outlook, and the equity soared more than 89% within the last 30 days.
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