Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) stock rose more than 2% in Monday's premarket trading as chip stocks benefited from a stronger market backdrop. Nasdaq futures gained 0.97%, while S&P 500 futures rose 0.68%.
Micron is also drawing attention ahead of its Sept. 30 earnings report.
CNBC's Jim Cramer recently highlighted Micron as one of his favored semiconductor stocks. He pointed to the company's valuation despite its sharp AI-driven rally.
Asked whether investors should take profits before earnings, Cramer said he would hold the stock. He noted that Micron trades at about 13 times earnings and potentially around six times next year's earnings. He said those multiples make the stock look "incredibly cheap."
Micron has benefited from strong demand for high-bandwidth memory, or HBM, used in AI systems. Investors will closely watch HBM demand, memory pricing and management's outlook.
Technical Analysis
MU remains in a strong uptrend. The stock is trading above its 20-day, 50-day, 100-day and 200-day moving averages.
Shares are about 8% above the 20-day simple moving average of $959.60. They are also about 61.8% above the 200-day SMA of $640.15.
Momentum remains positive. The MACD is above its signal line, while the histogram is positive. That suggests buying momentum is strengthening.
Near-term resistance sits around $1,036. Support is near $887.50.
Micron has gained about 517% over the past 12 months. Its 52-week high stands at $1,255.
Earnings And Analyst Outlook
Micron is scheduled to report earnings on Sept. 30.
Wall Street expects earnings of $31.33 per share on revenue of $50.95 billion. That compares with earnings of $3.03 per share and revenue of $11.31 billion a year earlier.
Micron carries a Buy consensus rating. The average price forecast is $1,521.74.
RBC Capital maintained an Outperform rating on Sept. 18 with a $1,500 price forecast. Mizuho maintained an Outperform rating in August and lowered its forecast to $1,300. New Street Research upgraded Micron to Buy in August with a $1,250 forecast.
Edge Rankings
MU scores strongly on momentum, quality and growth in the Edge Rankings.
Its Momentum score is 99.48, while Quality stands at 96.54 and Growth at 93.86. However, its Value score is lower at 22.45.
The rankings point to strong momentum and growth, while suggesting the stock screens less favorably on value.
ETF Exposure
Micron is a major holding in several semiconductor ETFs. It accounts for about 8.78% of the iShares Semiconductor ETF (NASDAQ: SOXX), 8.86% of the Invesco PHLX Semiconductor ETF (NASDAQ: SOXQ) and 8.87% of the State Street SPDR NYSE Technology ETF (NYSE: XNTK).
That exposure means large fund inflows or outflows can also affect trading in Micron shares.
Price Action
Micron shares rose 2.24% to $1,038.51 in Monday's premarket trading, according to market data.