With Micron's stock well off its peak, investors want proof that the AI boom can last

By Hannah Pedone

Investors in memory stocks are looking for signs that elevated pricing can be sustained for years without demand suffering

Micron shares have more than tripled this year, but they've come under pressure in recent weeks.

After driving Micron Technology shares dramatically higher over the past year, investors seem to be getting more discerning.

Specifically, in the face of "sky high" expectations for the memory market, investors are demanding proof that the cycle can remain tight through the next two years, Shay Boloor, chief market strategist at Futurum Equities, told MarketWatch.

Micron (MU) and its peers in the memory and storage industries have benefited from elevated chip prices due to an extreme imbalance between supply and demand. Wall Street wants to know if those prices can keep rising "without customers pushing back, supply catching up or pricing momentum peaking," Boloor said.

Shares of Micron have climbed 230% so far this year, and they're up about 650% over the past 12 months.

But the stock is down roughly 23% since peaking on June 25, and shares of Sandisk (SNDK) have lost 30% since charting a high that same day. Micron's stock is roughly flat in Wednesday afternoon action, while Sandisk's is ahead.

Boloor said that the "mix of oversold conditions" and "dip-buying" comes after a period in which investors took profits on fears that the memory cycle was near a peak, among other factors.

Meanwhile, Jack Gold, principal analyst at J.Gold Associates, told MarketWatch that Micron and Sandisk, along with SK Hynix (KR:000660) and Samsung (KR:005930), have been beneficiaries of the high-priced memory that artificial-intelligence data-center buildouts demand.

Any hiccups in the pace of the buildout could significantly affect memory pricing, he noted. However, he believes that fundamentally, Micron should "profit handsomely from the AI boom."

"I don't see any long-term reason why they would not do so, unless of course the entire AI cycle goes bust," he said. "So I suspect there is incentive to acquire the stock as its price falls."

-Hannah Pedone

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07-08-26 1500ET