MU, SNDK Shake Off 3-Day Memory Slump: Retail Says Demand Narrative Is Intact
- MU, SNDK and WDC gained 2% to 2.7% in Monday’s overnight session.
- Micron’s market capitalization fell below $1 trillion on July 16 and has remained below that threshold since.
- The retail was ‘bullish’ for MU and SNDK and ‘bearish’ for WDC and DRAM.
Leading memory chip stocks Micron and SanDisk rose on Monday, snapping a three-day losing streak and bucking a selloff in Korean equities that has often spilled over into U.S. semiconductor names.
Micron stock gained 2%, while SanDisk and Western Digital rose 2.7% and 2.1%, respectively – all three stocks climbed between 2% and 2.7% in the overnight session. The Roundhill Memory ETF (DRAM) also gained 0.6% on Monday, extending its advance by 2.7% overnight.
The rebound follows weeks of heavy selling in high-flying memory stocks and the broader semiconductor sector, as investors booked profits and rotated some funds back into Big Tech and software names.
DRAM has fallen 25% so far this month. Micron’s market capitalization fell below $1 trillion on July 16 and has remained below that threshold since.
The moves are notable, coming at the start of the week where tech majors like Intel and Alphabet will report their quarterly earnings – reports that would shape the sentiment for the broader AI trade. They also suggest that investors believe that memory firms might still have room to run higher.
UBS Sees Memory Opportunity
On Monday, UBS said Micron could repurchase more than 40% of its shares by the end of 2028 once its buyback restriction expires in December 2026. The firm expects the memory chip company to generate over $400 billion in free cash flow through 2028, which could fund the repurchases at current prices.
As part of its research, UBS highlighted Micron as well as its peers SanDisk, Western Digital and Seagate, and chipmakers Broadcom and AMD as attractive investments at current levels, according to a CNBC report.
Retail View On Memory Stocks
On Stocktwits, the retail was ‘bullish’ for MU and SNDK and ‘bearish’ for WDC and DRAM.
“Price action over the last month is maybe the worst I've seen in any sector over 1 month period,” a trader commented. “Market makers have us scared that future earnings are about to evaporate but the CEO's of memory companies say demand will out pace supply for the foreseeable future. It will be an interesting earnings season, I think it'll be clear that memory is in the driver's seat for the next 5 years and we make all time highs.”
Traders said they would turn to SK Hynix’s upcoming results, the first since the company listed its shares on Nasdaq, for further cues. SK Hynix is scheduled to report its second-quarter earnings on July 29 at 9 am Korean time.
“$NSKD $MU $SKHY The peak of the first AI cycle might come really late. After years of risk control on bank and financial system, the economy is living a more robust life right now,” another trader wrote.