Micron Technology shares fell modestly by 1% to $1,028 apiece in Wednesday’s trade ahead of the company’s fiscal third-quarter results, which are expected to provide the clearest test yet of whether demand for AI infrastructure remains strong enough to sustain this year’s surge.
The company has caught investors’ attention amid an explosive rally in its shares, surprising many Wall Street analysts and pushing its market capitalisation above the $1 trillion mark. This has placed Micron among the top US-listed companies, ahead of companies such as Walmart and Intel by market value.
As the stock has emerged as a clear winner in the AI-led trade, rallying over 800% in one year, its earnings have drawn close attention from Wall Street, with investors looking for signs that AI-driven demand remains strong.
Earlier this week, Micron struck a multi-year supply and equity deal with Anthropic to become a primary supplier of HBM, DRAM and SSDs for Claude AI training and inference.
“Investors are hoping Micron’s earnings can reassure markets that the massive spending on AI infrastructure is still translating into strong business growth. The company is expected to report earnings of $20.83 per share on revenue of $35.75 billion. Given that Micron’s stock has more than tripled this year, expectations remain extremely high,” said domestic brokerage firm Vested Finance.
In the previous trading session, the stock tanked 13%, marking its biggest intraday drop in more than a year, as investors rotated out of chip stocks amid valuation concerns.
Renewed concerns that the AI-driven rally may have run too far, too fast, triggered a global technology rout on Tuesday. The sell-off spread to US stocks, dragging the Nasdaq 100 down 3.3% and the S&P 500 lower by 1.4%.
Worries over whether the massive spending commitments by technology firms will generate sufficient returns, coupled with elevated valuations and crowded positioning, have led to periodic sharp pullbacks in AI-linked stocks.
In addition, growing expectations of a potential US Federal Reserve interest-rate hike later this year have weighed on investor sentiment. Higher interest rates could raise borrowing costs and have a financial impact on companies amid expanding capital expenditure requirements.
Micron expected to report 280% jump in revenue
According to a Reuters report, Micron Technology is expected to post a 282.6% year-on-year jump in revenue to $35.59 billion for the quarter ended May 31, compared with $9.3 billion a year earlier. The estimate is based on the average forecast of 27 analysts compiled by LSEG.
The report noted that the consensus revenue estimate is above Micron’s guidance issued on March 18, 2026, when the company projected quarterly revenue in the range of $32.75 billion to $34.25 billion.
Reuters further reported that analysts, on average, expect Micron to report earnings of $20.58 per share, according to LSEG data. This is also higher than the company’s earlier EPS guidance of $18.75 to $19.55 per share for the period ended May 31.
Micron had also guided for capital expenditure of $7 billion and a gross profit margin of 81% for the quarter, the Reuters report said.
Micron beat analysts’ revenue expectations in the previous quarter, reporting revenue of $23.86 billion, up 196% year-on-year. It was a strong quarter for the company, as it also beat analysts’ EPS and operating income estimates.
(With inputs from Bloomberg and Reuters)
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