Micron’s Record Rally Faces Critical Test After Samsung Challenge

Micron Technology’s extraordinary twelve-day surge came to an abrupt halt on Friday as shares of the memory chip giant plummeted over 5%. This decline marked a dramatic pause in what had been one of the most impressive stock rallies in recent market history, breaking a winning streak that stood as the company’s longest in more than sixteen years.

The sudden reversal appears directly linked to competitive developments in the high-bandwidth memory sector. Market analysts point to Samsung’s successful qualification of its HBM3E memory with NVIDIA as a significant factor behind the shift in sentiment. This breakthrough by the South Korean competitor represents a potential challenge to Micron’s previously dominant position in supplying high-performance memory for artificial intelligence applications.

Earnings Release Looms as Key Catalyst

All eyes now turn to Monday’s quarterly earnings release, which represents a critical test for Micron’s momentum. The company is scheduled to report fourth-quarter fiscal 2025 results, with Wall Street anticipating earnings of $2.87 per share—a figure that would represent nearly a tenfold increase compared to the same period last year.

Despite the recent pullback, analyst sentiment remains overwhelmingly positive:

Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying Micron?

• Susquehanna raised its price target to $200
• UBS maintained a $185 target
• Mizuho established a $182 objective
• The average price target among analysts stands at $160.64

Valuation Gap Presents Opportunity Amid Competition

Trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.7 based on current estimates, Micron appears significantly undervalued compared to sector peers like NVIDIA (40x) or AMD (43x). This valuation discrepancy reflects both cyclical concerns inherent to the memory market and emerging competitive pressures.

The company’s fundamental position remains strong, with its entire 2025 HBM production capacity already sold out and robust demand extending well into 2026. Year-to-date performance continues to show impressive gains of nearly 90%, while the twelve-month advance maintains a solid 76% increase.

Whether Micron can resume its upward trajectory following the Samsung-induced pause will likely depend on the upcoming quarterly results and the market’s assessment of the evolving competitive landscape in the high-performance memory sector.