On Tuesday, Micron Technology, ranked first in US stock trading volume, closed down 3.61% with a turnover of $54.256 billion. DA Davidson Managing Director Luria initiated coverage on Micron Technology with a "Buy" rating and a price target of $1,000, representing approximately 26% upside from Monday's closing price.
On May 12, DA Davidson Managing Director Gil Luria noted that many investors still hold the outdated view that memory is a cyclical industry, thus underestimating the new calculus for the memory sector in the AI era. He pointed out that as AI models grow larger, the demand for memory is rapidly increasing to support longer context windows, meaning the ability to process more data at once.
Compared to the currently hot CPU market driven by the surge in agentic AI and inference demand, Luria believes the memory industry could potentially become an "even better market" in the future. Investors will begin to reassess the punitive valuation frameworks previously applied to Micron Technology, which could lead to significant upside potential.
At the end of last month, Luria initiated coverage on Micron Technology with a "Buy" rating and a price target of $1,000, representing about 26% upside from Monday's closing price.
Ranked second, NVIDIA closed up 0.61% with a turnover of $34.665 billion. NVIDIA is scheduled to report its first-quarter earnings after the market closes on May 20. Citibank issued a preview report, forecasting the company's quarterly revenue to reach approximately $73 billion, exceeding the market's general expectation of about $71.8 billion by roughly $1.4 billion.
Citigroup analyst Atif Malik noted that the supply-demand imbalance for NVIDIA's Blackwell and Rubin AI chips remains "highly favorable," which is a core factor supporting better-than-expected performance. Demand continues to be robust, with capital expenditures on AI infrastructure by hyperscalers expected to nearly double by 2026, far exceeding Wall Street's previous estimates.
Furthermore, according to Motley Fool estimates, if NVIDIA's revenue approaches approximately $621 billion and its price-to-earnings ratio remains unchanged, its stock price could reach around $640 per share by 2027, citing management's confidence in demand visibility.
Ranked third, Tesla Motors closed down 2.60% with a turnover of $26.05 billion. Tesla Motors announced an investment of nearly $250 million to expand battery cell production capacity at its factory outside Berlin. The company stated that this investment aims to create conditions for the plant to increase its annual capacity from the previous 8 gigawatt-hours to 18 gigawatt-hours. The factory is located in Grünheide, southeast of the German capital.
Prior to this, Tesla Motors also announced the global discontinuation of its Model S and Model X vehicles.
Ranked fourth, Syndax Pharmaceuticals closed down 6.17% with a turnover of $23.656 billion. US memory stocks generally declined on Wednesday.
Ranked fifth, Intel closed down 6.82% with a turnover of $20.489 billion. Intel has been one of the strongest performers in the sector in recent months, as investors grow increasingly confident in its efforts to transform into a large contract chip manufacturer. The stock has more than doubled since late March. Reports suggest Apple could become a significant foundry customer.
It is reported that after over a year of discussions, Apple and Intel have reached a preliminary agreement for Intel to manufacture some chips for Apple devices. Bank of America analysts estimate this opportunity could ultimately represent a $35 to $40 billion market.
Bank of America analyst Vivek Arya stated that if Intel captures a significant portion of this business, its annual revenue could increase by over $10 billion. However, the firm also cautioned that these benefits may take years to materialize. Intel requires substantial investment in new factories, testing facilities, and production infrastructure, with significant revenue growth potentially not realized until 2028 or later.
Bank of America raised its price target for Intel from $56 to $96 but maintained an "Underperform" rating, as the target remains below the current stock price.
Ranked sixth, Advanced Micro Devices closed down 2.29% with a turnover of $17.135 billion. On Tuesday, chip stocks including Advanced Micro Devices, Intel, and Qualcomm experienced significant pullbacks, primarily influenced by the following factors:
Profit-taking: These stocks had previously reached all-time highs, with Intel doubling over the past month and Qualcomm rising 41% over five days, leading investors to cash in gains after the rally.
Valuation Warnings: Analysts believe positive news is already fully reflected in stock prices. Intel's target price of $96 remains below its current price, and the consensus target for Qualcomm is also significantly lower.
Weak PC Demand: April laptop shipments plummeted 27% month-over-month, posing a direct headwind for PC chipmakers like Intel and Advanced Micro Devices.
Benefits Taking Time: Potential revenue growth from deals like the Apple foundry business may take years to contribute meaningfully.
Ranked eleventh, Qualcomm closed down 11.46%, marking its largest single-day drop since March 2020, with a turnover of $8.138 billion. Qualcomm's recent consecutive gains stemmed from market optimism about its efforts to reduce reliance on the smartphone market and expand into new growth areas such as automotive technology, IoT devices, and AI computing. Before Tuesday's decline, the stock had risen 41% over the past five trading days, its strongest five-day performance since 2019.
At the end of April, Qualcomm reported quarterly results that beat expectations, and investors reacted positively to its progress in entering the data center processor business. CEO Cristiano Amon stated on the earnings call that the company expects to begin shipping custom data center chips to a major hyperscale cloud customer in the December quarter.
Despite the recent rally, Wall Street remains cautious on Qualcomm's valuation. According to FactSet data, the stock's average analyst rating is still "Hold," and the current price is well above the consensus target.
Ranked thirteenth, Lumentum closed down 5.77% with a turnover of $7.487 billion. The company recently stated that demand for its products continues to outpace supply capacity. Several Wall Street firms subsequently issued optimistic views, suggesting AI infrastructure build-out is driving the industry into a new high-growth cycle.
Needham analysts Ryan Koontz and Jeffrey Hopson noted that the company is accelerating the expansion of its indium phosphide wafer and optical module capacity by focusing capital expenditures, supported by long-term purchase agreements with customers. The analysts believe that backlog for optical circuit switching systems and co-packaged optics lasers, valued in the billions of dollars, could begin to significantly drive revenue growth from near-zero contribution levels in the second half of 2026.
Ranked eighteenth, Corning closed down 4.41% with a turnover of $4.497 billion. Recently, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang stated in an interview that NVIDIA and global optical fiber leader Corning jointly announced they have entered into a multi-year commercial and technology partnership.
Ranked nineteenth, IREN Ltd closed up 2.56% with a turnover of $4.136 billion. Recent reports indicated that NVIDIA will invest up to $2.1 billion in data center developer IREN Ltd as part of a broader collaboration between the two companies aimed at accelerating the build-out of artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure. In a statement, the companies said IREN Ltd has agreed to grant NVIDIA the right to purchase up to 30 million shares at an exercise price of $70 per share over five years.
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