While Fools should generally take the opinion of Wall Street with a grain of salt, it's not a bad idea to take a look at particularly stock-shaking analyst upgrades and downgrades -- just in case their reasoning behind the call makes sense.
What: Shares of Micron Technology (MU -0.60%) gained nearly 1% in pre-market trading Monday after Baird upgraded the semiconductor company from neutral to outperform.
So what: Along with the upgrade, analyst Tristan Gerra boosted his price target to $42 (from $25), representing about 35% worth of upside to Friday's close. So while contrarian traders might be turned off by Micron's price strength over the past year, Gerra's call could reflect a sense on Wall Street that industry tailwinds give the stock plenty of room to run.
Now what: According to Baird, Micron's risk/reward trade-off remains rather attractive at this point. "Secular improvement in supply/demand trends combined with an improving cash position should fuel both Micron's earnings and multiple momentum over time," said Gerra. Of course, with Micron shares now up more than 150% from their 52-week low and sporting an industry-topping price-to-sales multiple of 2.5, much of that bullishness might already be baked into the valuation.
