TLDR
- Micron fell to fourth place in NAND shipment share in Q2 2026, behind Samsung (25%), SK Hynix (22%), and China’s YMTC (14%)
- Despite lower shipment rank, Micron still outranked YMTC in revenue due to its higher-priced data center products
- Micron reported Q3 revenue of $41.46 billion, up 346% year over year, with EPS of $25.11, beating estimates
- Analysts hold a consensus “Buy” rating with an average price target of $1,260.31
- MU stock opened at $911.29 on Thursday after a near 5% rally the day before
Micron (MU) stock slipped 0.3% in premarket trading on Thursday after rallying nearly 5% on Wednesday. The stock opened at $911.29, with a 52-week range of $113.46 to $1,255.00.
The pullback comes as new data from Counterpoint Research shows Micron lost ground in the NAND memory chip market during Q2 2026. Samsung led with 25% shipment share, followed by SK Hynix at 22%, and China’s YMTC at 14%. Micron came in fifth.
NAND is not a small part of the business. It makes up around a quarter of Micron’s total revenue, so any shift in market positioning here matters.
The rise of YMTC is worth watching. The Chinese chipmaker has been on the U.S. Commerce Department’s Entity List since 2022, which limits its access to some western markets. But it is still gaining ground. YMTC is also preparing to go public on mainland China, though no IPO date has been set.
That said, shipment volume does not tell the full story. Counterpoint Research noted that YMTC ranked fifth in revenue despite its third-place shipment position. Its product mix is still weighted toward lower-priced consumer chips rather than the high-margin enterprise solid-state drives that Micron sells into data centers.
YMTC has said it plans to shift more toward enterprise SSDs in the second half of 2026, which could close that revenue gap over time.
Strong Earnings Underpin the Bull Case
Despite the market share data, Micron’s recent financial results were strong. In its fiscal Q3, the company posted revenue of $41.46 billion, up 345.8% year over year. EPS came in at $25.11, well ahead of the analyst estimate of $21.39. Gross margin reached approximately 85%.
For Q4 2026, Micron guided for EPS in the range of $30.00 to $32.00. Analysts are forecasting full-year EPS of $72.93.
Analyst and Institutional Sentiment
Wall Street remains broadly bullish. Raymond James raised its price target to $1,500, Morgan Stanley moved to $1,200, and Needham lifted its target to $1,650. The consensus rating across 38 analysts is “Buy,” with an average target of $1,260.31.
Institutional investors hold 80.84% of MU stock. While some funds trimmed positions, others added. Patton Fund Management cut its stake by 34.4% in Q2, but Armstrong Advisory and McAlister Sweet both added to their holdings.
Insider selling has been active. In the past 90 days, insiders sold 162,179 shares worth roughly $167.8 million. Director Lynn Dugle sold 1,300 shares at $1,150.43 on June 30, and CAO Scott Allen sold 879 shares at $1,000.00 on July 23.
On the risk side, Netlist filed new patent litigation against Micron at the U.S. International Trade Commission. The financial impact remains unclear, but it adds uncertainty to an otherwise positive setup.
Micron’s market cap stands at $1.03 trillion, with a P/E ratio of 20.63 and a beta of 2.18.
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