Stocks opened higher on Thursday thanks to strong gains in the financial and energy sectors. Meanwhile, the technology sector felt pressure, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq index slipping into the red in early morning trading. Despite this trend, shares of Micron (NASDAQ:MU) added about 0.5% at the open on the back of a bullish analyst note.
Wall Street’s top analysts have not been shy about their praise for Micron in recent years, and today it was Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) getting in on the action. The firm’s Mark Delaney said in a note Thursday that he is confident Micron is poised to top earnings estimates when it reports Q3 results later this month.
The earnings beat will be powered by strength from Micron’s DRAM segment, Delaney said. The analyst also argued that this strength will continue into the third quarter of the calendar year, which he said is “longer than some industry contacts that we had spoken with previously expected.”
Micron currently sports 23 buy ratings, six hold ratings, and zero sell ratings, according to Bloomberg. Its most recent rating prior to Goldman’s note came from analysts at Longbow Research, who re-initiated coverage on the chipmaker with a neutral designation.
Analysts have also been relatively bullish on the company’s near-term earnings outlook, with eight positive revisions to its soon-to-be-reported quarter EPS estimates coming within the past 30 days. Micron has seen no downward earnings estimate revisions in that time.
This bullish revision activity has lifted the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the quarter by 30 cents over the last month. Analysts now expect Micron to report earnings growth of 94% and revenue growth of 38% for its fiscal third quarter.
Solid estimate revisions have earned MU a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). The memory solutions giant is scheduled to report its Q3 results after the market closes on June 20.
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Micron Technology, Inc. (MU): Free Stock Analysis Report
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