TLDR
- Micron stock was down 0.8% at $684.23 in premarket trading Monday.
- The stock has dropped 30% over the past month.
- TSMC said it remains focused on logic chips after reports of a 3D DRAM push.
- Jefferies thinks TSMC will enter memory by 2035.
- Fears of slower AI data center builds still weigh on the stock.
Micron (MU) stock was down 0.8% at $684.23 in premarket trading Monday. The stock has dropped 30% in the past month.
It isn’t exactly bouncing back. The slide continued even after TSMC played down any move into memory chips.
Last week, The Information reported that TSMC was exploring 3D DRAM production at Nvidia’s request. That raised fears of a big new rival in the memory market.
TSMC told Barron’s it does not comment on market rumors. It said it remains focused on its “core business,” which is logic chips.
The company added that its mission is to be the trusted technology and capacity provider of the global logic IC industry for years to come. Jefferies took a different view in a research note, saying TSMC will move into memory by 2035.
The Clock on the TSMC Threat
That puts any real competition about nine years away. Most memory-market talk has centered on when prices will peak between now and 2030.
Micron has long-term price agreements covering that same stretch. So the TSMC story sits well beyond the window the market is focused on.
The bigger weight on the stock has been politics. Fears that Democratic midterm wins will slow AI data center construction have hit memory demand hopes.
Proposed limits on AI data centers, including permitting, power-use and environmental rules, remain a worry. Those concerns helped drive a steep drop in the prior session.
Micron also faces a reported pause in construction of its planned Taiwan facility. The pause followed a labor dispute.
Earnings and Wall Street Views
Micron’s last quarter came in above forecasts. It earned $33.42 per share against the $31.77 estimate, on revenue of $54.23 billion versus $51.33 billion expected.
Sales rose 379.1% from a year earlier. Guidance for the first quarter of 2027 calls for EPS of $37.15 to $39.15.
Analysts rate the stock “Moderate Buy” with an average price target of $1,407.88. One analyst has a Strong Buy, 41 have a Buy and four have a Hold.
Insiders have sold stock worth $78.46 million over the last three months. That includes sales by EVP Sumit Sadana and insider Scott DeBoer.
Hohimer Wealth Management opened a new Micron position in the third quarter, valued at about $2.94 million. Institutions and hedge funds own 80.84% of the company.
MarketBeat data shows the stock opened at $690.00 Monday. Its 50-day moving average is $961.59, its 200-day average is $754.99, and its 12-month high is $1,255.
