TLDR
- Micron (MU) stock was up about 3% to 4% in pre-market trading after SK Hynix reported record third-quarter results.
- SK Hynix said memory demand should outpace supply through 2030, and that its DRAM and HBM supply is sold out for three years.
- SK Hynix posted 104.62 trillion won in revenue and an 80% operating margin, and pledged about 100 trillion won in shareholder returns.
- Bank of America repeated its Buy rating and $1,550 price target on Micron.
- Micron can start major buybacks on Dec. 9 under its 2024 U.S. Chips Act funding.
Micron Technology (MU) stock rose about 3% to 4% in pre-market trading on Wednesday. The move followed record third-quarter results from memory peer SK Hynix. MU closed Tuesday up 2.77%, and the stock has more than tripled this year.
SK Hynix reported revenue of 104.62 trillion won, the first quarter above 100 trillion won. Operating profit hit 83.33 trillion won, up 632% from a year earlier. That works out to an operating margin of about 80%.
SK HYNIX $SKHY Q3’26 EARNINGS HIGHLIGHTS
🔹 Revenue: $78.9B (Est. $74.8B) 🟢; +328% YoY
🔹 Oper Profit: $62.8B (Est. $58.5B) 🟢; +632% YoY
🔹 Oper Margin: 80%; +3,300 bps YoY; record high
🔹 QoQ: Revenue +32% / Oper Profit +38%Q4 Guide:
🔹 DRAM Bit Growth: Mid-20% QoQ
🔹 NAND… pic.twitter.com/GkVRgwt3L6— Wall St Engine (@wallstengine) October 27, 2026
American depositary receipts of SK Hynix rose 7.7% in pre-market trading. It was the sixth straight quarter of record revenue and operating profit. Its Seoul-listed stock closed up almost 11%.
What SK Hynix Told the Market
The line that caught the most attention was in the company’s outlook. SK Hynix said demand is expected to outpace supply through 2030. It also said structural supply and demand imbalances in memory should last that long.
The company said its DRAM and high-bandwidth memory supply is effectively sold out for the next three years. Long-term agreements already cover a large part of 2027 and 2028 output. That matters because Wall Street has been pricing in a possible drop in memory prices after 2028.
That is when SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics are set to open seven new memory fabrication and packaging plants, according to research firm Trendforce. SK Hynix’s own order book tells a different story for now.
HBM4, the next generation of high-bandwidth memory used in AI servers, entered full-scale mass production in the third quarter. SK Hynix expects it to pass HBM3E in shipment volume and revenue share in the fourth quarter. It also guided for mid-20% DRAM bit shipment growth in the quarter.
CFO Kim Woo-hyun said the company plans to return about 100 trillion won to shareholders through fiscal 2026. That includes at least 30 trillion won in cash dividends and at least 60 trillion won in buybacks and share cancellations. It is the biggest such commitment in the company’s history.
Micron’s Own Tailwinds
Micron has its own catalysts. Bank of America’s semiconductor analyst kept a Buy rating and a $1,550 price target after a series of executive meetings. He said he came away “incrementally more positive on memory.”
Hana Securities also kept Micron on its list of 10 global AI investment picks. That came ahead of Wednesday’s Federal Reserve decision, where rates are widely expected to hold steady.
Buybacks are another point of interest. Micron can start major repurchases on Dec. 9 under the terms of its 2024 U.S. Chips Act funding. UBS analyst Timothy Arcuri has said Micron could begin with about $20 billion a quarter.
He sees that rising to about $50 billion a quarter toward the end of fiscal 2027, which ends in September next year. Despite the run this year, Micron still trades at a cheap valuation because of worries about the cyclical memory market.
Elon Musk’s prediction that humanoid robots could need more memory than any other application also made the rounds. At least one analyst called it a potential volume opportunity for Micron. Form 4 filings for Oct. 27 show insider activity, and several institutions reported larger stakes in recent 13F filings.
Wider markets were mixed. The S&P 500 closed Tuesday at 7,722.60, up 0.6%, while the Nasdaq rose 1.18%. Investors are watching the Fed’s statement for any hawkish language.
Micron’s next catalyst is the Dec. 9 date when it can begin its stock buybacks.
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