{"slug": "one-ai-stock-id-watch-before-nvidias-earnings", "title": "One AI Stock I’d Watch Before Nvidia’s Earnings", "summary": "Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) trades at $910.43, up 674.9% over the past year, with 24/7 Wall St. setting a 12-month price target of $954.59 (4.85% upside) and a HOLD recommendation at 90% confidence ahead of NVIDIA's earnings. Fiscal Q3 revenue hit $41.5 billion (up 346% year over year) with non-GAAP EPS of $25.11, beating consensus by 23.79%, while Q4 guidance projects $50 billion revenue and $31 EPS. CEO Sanjay Mehrotra said 'the memory industry has been structurally transformed by the proliferation of AI' and sees tightness persisting beyond 2027, with 16 Strategic Customer Agreements covering 20% of DRAM and a third of NAND volume.", "body_md": "**Micron Technology** ([NASDAQ:MU](https://247wallst.com/companies/MU/) | [MU Price Prediction](https://247wallst.com/companies/mu/price-prediction)) sits at the center of the [AI memory trade](https://247wallst.com/investing/2026/08/04/sk-hynix-and-sandisk-may-have-just-solved-ais-biggest-bottleneck-and-it-could-reshape-the-memory-market/). With **NVIDIA** ([NASDAQ:NVDA](https://247wallst.com/companies/NVDA/)) reporting later this week, the setup for its lead HBM supplier warrants careful pricing. Micron has run from the mid $120s a year ago to $910.43, and our proprietary model sees room to run into the earnings report.\n\nOur 24/7 Wall St. price target for Micron is $954.59 over the next 12 months, implying 4.85% upside from Monday’s close. The model returns a hold at high confidence (90%), reflecting a stock near fair value after a violent revaluation but tethered to [the strongest memory cycle on record.](https://247wallst.com/investing/2026/08/17/prediction-micron-is-up-240-this-year-and-here-is-the-next-catalyst/)\n\n## 24/7 Wall St. Price Target Summary\n\n| Metric | Value |\n|---|---|\n| Current Price | $910.43 |\n| 24/7 Wall St. Price Target | $954.59 |\n| Upside | 4.85% |\n| Recommendation | HOLD |\n| Confidence Level | 90% |\n\n## From $120 to $900 in a Year\n\nMicron is up 674.9% over the past year and 219.19% year to date, but has cooled recently, falling 10.01% in the past week and 5.83% in the last session. It trades roughly 21% below its 52-week high of $1,254.81.\n\n[Fiscal Q3 revenue landed at $41.5 billion](https://investors.micron.com/news/press-release/2026/Micron-Technology-Inc--Reports-Record-Results-for-the-Third-Quarter-of-Fiscal-2026/default.aspx), up 346% year over year, with non-GAAP EPS of $25.11 beating consensus by 23.79%. Fiscal Q4 guidance calls for $50 billion in revenue and $31 in EPS at the midpoint. Retail sentiment on Reddit has cooled to neutral heading into Nvidia’s print.\n\n## Why Bulls See a Breakout Ahead\n\nManagement’s tone was aggressive. CEO Sanjay Mehrotra said “the memory industry has been structurally transformed by the proliferation of AI” and that “we see tightness persisting beyond 2027.”\n\nThe company has signed 16 Strategic Customer Agreements covering roughly 20% of DRAM volume and a third of NAND volume, with take-or-pay floors that CFO Mark Murphy said produce margins “significantly above prior peak margins.”\n\n[HBM4 12-high shipments](https://247wallst.com/investing/2026/08/04/sk-hynix-and-sandisk-may-have-just-solved-ais-biggest-bottleneck-and-it-could-reshape-the-memory-market/) are ramping twice as fast as HBM3E, with over $1 billion in [HBM4 revenue](https://247wallst.com/investing/2026/08/04/sk-hynix-and-sandisk-may-have-just-solved-ais-biggest-bottleneck-and-it-could-reshape-the-memory-market/) already booked. The bull case scenario points to $1,332.99, a 46.41% return. The Street’s $1,515.11 consensus sits higher, with 9 Strong Buys, 31 Buys, and zero Sells.\n\n## Risks Worth Watching\n\nCapex is exploding. Q3 burned $7.826 billion, with fiscal Q4 capex guided to roughly $10 billion and full-year FY26 spend near $27 billion. HBM4 concentration on a single lead customer amplifies Nvidia risk. A soft Nvidia guide could compress memory multiples fast.\n\nMicron’s average one-week post-earnings change is -3.44% despite 8 beats and 0 misses. Bulls counter that the $100 billion minimum SCA revenue backlog and $18 billion in incoming cash deposits materially blunt cyclicality. Our bear case flags $699.01, or a 23.22% drawdown.\n\n## How Micron Compares to NVIDIA and Western Digital\n\nNVIDIA is the demand engine. It trades at a P/E of 43 with Q1 FY27 revenue up 85.2% to $81.61 billion. Micron’s 6 forward multiple looks strikingly cheap against NVIDIA given similar exposure to [AI infrastructure spend](https://247wallst.com/investing/2026/04/30/ai-data-center-spending-rushes-toward-800-billion/) (we profiled seven non-chipmaker suppliers powering that same buildout in a free report here: [7 Stocks Powering the AI Boom](https://247wallst.com/pages/ai-power-seven-offer-d905ec99.html)).\n\n**Western Digital** ([NASDAQ:WDC](https://247wallst.com/companies/WDC/)), the pure-play HDD peer riding the same AI storage tailwind, posted fiscal Q4 revenue of $3.75 billion, up 43.8% year over year, with non-GAAP gross margins at 54.4%. Micron’s 84.9% non-GAAP gross margin dwarfs both. That combination of higher margins and lower forward multiple makes our $954.59 target look conservative relative to peers.\n\n| Company | Forward P/E | Gross Margin |\n|---|---|---|\n| Micron | 6 | 84.9% |\n| NVIDIA | N/A | 75.0% |\n| Western Digital | N/A | 54.4% |\n\n## Micron Price Prediction 2026-2030\n\nThe 24/7 Wall St. price target is $954.59 with a hold rating at 90% confidence. The SCA backlog converts memory from a boom-bust asset into contracted cash flow.\n\nThe setup improves if Nvidia reiterates gigawatt-scale AI capex guidance and Micron re-tests $1,000. The setup weakens if [HBM4 pricing shows softness](https://247wallst.com/investing/2026/08/04/sk-hynix-and-sandisk-may-have-just-solved-ais-biggest-bottleneck-and-it-could-reshape-the-memory-market/) in the earnings report.\n\n| Year | 24/7 Wall St. Price Target |\n|---|---|\n| 2026 | $954 |\n| 2027 | $1,010 |\n| 2028 | $1,065 |\n| 2029 | $1,115 |\n| 2030 | $1,158 |\n\nThese projections assume Micron continues executing SCAs on schedule and HBM4E reaches volume production in calendar 2027. Significant upside or downside could result from a shift in AI capex or a change in the HBM lead-customer relationship.\n\n*Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.*", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/one-ai-stock-id-watch-before-nvidias-earnings", "canonical_source": "https://247wallst.com/investing/2026/08/25/one-ai-stock-id-watch-before-nvidias-earnings/", "published_at": "2026-08-25 14:15:15+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-08-25 14:44:34.642337+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence", "ai-infrastructure", "ai-chips", "ai-products"], "entities": ["Micron Technology", "NVIDIA", "Sanjay Mehrotra", "Mark Murphy", "24/7 Wall St.", "NASDAQ:MU", "NASDAQ:NVDA", "HBM4"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/one-ai-stock-id-watch-before-nvidias-earnings", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/one-ai-stock-id-watch-before-nvidias-earnings.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/one-ai-stock-id-watch-before-nvidias-earnings.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/one-ai-stock-id-watch-before-nvidias-earnings.jsonld"}}