After sell-offs in yesterday's trading, Micron (MU 1.96%) stock is moving higher in Friday's session. The memory-chip company's share price was up 4.8% as of 3:45 p.m. ET. The S&P 500 was down 0.6% at the same point in the session, and the Nasdaq Composite had declined 1.1%.
The broader stock market has continued to see volatility today due to dynamics connected to the U.S. and Israel's war with Iran, but Micron stock is moving higher. Its share price is getting a boost from positive analyst coverage ahead of the company's upcoming quarterly report.
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Micron moves higher on price-target revision
Wedbush Morgan published new coverage on Micron today and reiterated an outperform rating on the company. More importantly, the investment firm raised its one-year price target on the stock from $320 per share to $500 per share. Matt Bryson, Wedbush's lead analyst on the stock, said that the memory-chip leader had a promising setup heading into its second quarter report next week.
After the market closes on March 18, Micron is scheduled to publish results for the second quarter of its current fiscal year -- a period which concluded at the end of February. Bryson expects that the company's Q2 results and Q3 guidance will exceed the market's expectations.
What's next for Micron?
Micron's fiscal Q2 report is poised to be an important event for the artificial intelligence (AI) hardware industry and broader stock market. Due to its status as the leading provider of memory chips used for AI processors, the company's sales performance has become a meaningful bellwether for demand in the overall AI space. There seems to be a good chance that the company will post sales and earnings that beat the average analyst estimates thanks to high demand for AI memory chips, but expectations are high heading into the report.
