What Choices Merchants Anticipate from Micron Inventory After Earnings on March 18

Micron Expertise (MU) has inched increased forward of its second-quarter earnings launch scheduled for after market shut on Wednesday, March 18. Consensus is for the reminiscence chips specialist to greater than double its income to about $19.1 billion in Q2, serving to earnings soar by an unimaginable 500% on a year-over-year foundation to $8.52 a share.

Forward of earnings, Micron inventory is up about 55% year-to-date, however choices merchants proceed to cost in important additional upside via the rest of 2026.

In response to Barchart, the put-to-call ratio on derivatives contracts expiring March 20 sits at 0.86x at the moment, indicating a bullish skew. In the meantime, the higher value on these name choices at $481 suggests MU shares may rally a notable 8.4% after earnings.

Buyers must also observe that Micron’s relative energy index (14-day) is about at 60 on the time of writing, reinforcing that the upward momentum shouldn’t be close to exhaustion but.

A 0.1% dividend yield and a few $2.5 billion remaining beneath present buyback authorization make MU shares much more enticing as a long-term holding in 2026.

RBC Capital’s senior analyst Srini Pajjuri shares the choices market’s optimism about Micron shares.

In a analysis observe dated March 16, Pajjuri raised his value goal to $525, citing an AI-driven “reminiscence super-cycle” that isn’t exhibiting any indicators of a slowdown any time quickly.

In response to him, the “base case” now assumes reminiscence pricing will proceed to at the least via the top of calendar yr 2026, given the transition to next-gen synthetic intelligence chips that can require a 3.5x enhance in HBM content material.

Now that knowledge facilities account for over 50% of the trade income, the “boom-bust” volatility of the previous is being changed by structural sustainability, which justified a better inventory valuation, he concluded.

Word that RBC isn’t the one Wall Road agency that’s bullish on Micron heading into its earnings on Wednesday.

The consensus score on MU inventory sits at “Sturdy Purchase” at the moment, with the imply goal of $550 signaling potential upside of one other 25% from right here.