Shares vaulted 3.8% in pre-market to $1,128.82 Tuesday, extending a blistering rally that has added more than 26% in just five trading sessions. The immediate catalyst: TD Cowen analyst Krish Sankar more than doubled his price target from $660 to $1,500 , arguing that demand for memory used in AI systems is still running ahead of supply, and that could keep prices stronger for longer. With earnings due June 24, the stakes for shareholders are enormous.
• A Wall Street Stampede, Not a Solo Call
TD Cowen's move was followed by RBC Capital Markets, which raised its target from $525 to $1,200.
Aletheia Capital went even further, setting a $1,600 target and forecasting that prices for advanced AI memory chips could more than double by 2027.
Cantor Fitzgerald's CJ Muse also increased his target to $1,500. When multiple banks independently reset their math this aggressively, it signals a fundamental reassessment of Micron's earning power — not just momentum chasing.
• The Old Boom-and-Bust Playbook May Not Apply Memory chips have historically been a commodity business plagued by oversupply. TD Cowen now argues the role of memory in AI is structural rather than cyclical.
Aletheia shifted its valuation framework from a traditional peak price-to-book model to a price-to-earnings model — a signal that analysts are beginning to treat Micron as a growth technology company, not a boom-bust commodity stock. If that narrative holds, investors could assign Micron a permanently higher valuation.
• The Earnings Bar Is Sky-High
Sankar now expects Micron to earn roughly $23 per share in the fiscal third quarter, above Wall Street's consensus of about $20.
He sees approximately $27 per share in the August quarter.
Last quarter's revenue already came in at $23.86 billion , and Micron's specialty AI memory chips are sold out for all of 2026. Missing these elevated expectations on June 24 would punish the stock brutally at this altitude.
• Competition and Valuation Are the Chief Risks
SK Hynix remains the dominant supplier of high-bandwidth memory and holds the leading position with NVIDIA's flagship chips.
Micron is now worth roughly $1.2 trillion, up more than 700% in a year — and some experts see it falling sharply from here.
Overbuying and intensifying competition pose significant threats even as AI demand surges.
The bottom line: Micron's transformation from cyclical chipmaker to AI infrastructure pillar is being priced in before it is fully proven. June 24 earnings will either validate the thesis — or expose how much faith the market has already borrowed from the future.