Will Micron’s Q1 2026 earnings justify its sky-high valuation? The memory chip giant reports on Dec. 17, with analysts expecting a blockbuster quarter.
Micron Technology (MU +4.66%) reports results for fiscal first-quarter 2026 on Dec. 17. If analyst estimates prove accurate, shareholders might want to break out the champagne — or at least a celebratory energy drink. You know the drill: Massive computing demand from artificial intelligence (AI) software giants can power massive business results on the hardware side.
Today’s Change
(4.66%) $10.57
Current Price
$237.22
Key Data Points
Market Cap
$267B
Day’s Range
$226.69 – $240.57
52wk Range
$61.54 – $260.58
Volume
21M
Avg Vol
26M
Gross Margin
40.17%
Dividend Yield
0.19%
What Wall Street expects from Micron’s big day
Wall Street analysts expect the memory chip giant to post earnings of $3.79 per share on revenue of $12.61 billion. That year-over-year growth would make even the most jaded tech investor do a double-take. The earnings estimate points to more than double last year’s Q1 earnings of $1.79 per share. Revenue should jump 45% higher, from $8.71 billion.
Recent moves signal confidence in the AI boom’s staying power. In November, Micron began shipping its automotive UFS 4.1 solution, doubling bandwidth to 4.2 gigabytes per second (GB/s) to feed data-hungry AI models in next-generation vehicles. Every car is basically a computer nowadays, you know.
More tellingly, Micron announced this week that it’s exiting the Crucial consumer business entirely by February 2026. Why abandon a well-known brand? Simply put, they need every ounce of manufacturing capacity for the more lucrative AI server chip market.
Image source: Micron Technology.
About those eye-popping valuation ratios…
Yes, Micron’s stock looks pricey at 31 times trailing earnings and a downright comedic 160 times free cash flow. But here’s the thing about those ratios — they can get distorted when a company has recently crawled out of the earnings basement. When your trailing-12-month denominator was barely positive last quarter, even modest improvements create eye-popping multiples.
Demand for high-bandwidth memory shows no signs of cooling, and the memory-chip industry is enjoying skyrocketing unit prices as a result. The supply and-demand economics are working in Micron’s favor right now.
So, Micron appears well positioned to deliver another quarter of impressive growth. Tune in on Dec. 17 to see the whole story.
Anders Bylund has positions in Micron Technology. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
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