Citigroup has maintained its "Buy" rating on Micron Technology (MU.US) and raised the stock's price target from $385 to $430 ahead of the company's quarterly results, citing soaring memory prices and robust artificial intelligence demand. The memory chip maker is expected to report its second-quarter earnings on March 18. An analyst team led by Atif Malik stated, "We have raised our estimates for the February and April quarters above market expectations, primarily due to strong memory pricing year-to-date." Citigroup's global memory analyst Peter Lee forecasts that DRAM average selling prices will increase 171% year-over-year by 2026, driven by strong data center demand, while NAND flash ASPs will rise 127% due to robust eSSD demand. Additionally, media reports indicate that Samsung will raise DRAM prices by 100% quarter-over-quarter in the first quarter. Analysts noted that a key debate among investors is whether the industry is in an extended memory cycle, similar to the Windows PC DRAM cycle of the 1990s, fueled by strong AI demand and limited new wafer fab capacity. Malik and his team analyzed Micron's stock performance relative to DRAM ASPs in past memory cycles and believe the stock has further upside this year. However, they added that with DRAM prices rising over 100% quarter-over-quarter in Q1, Micron's earnings beat may moderate in the second quarter. Separately, Susquehanna increased its price target on Micron from $345 to $525 while maintaining a "Positive" rating.
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