Mizuho upgraded Micron stock to "buy"
The shares of Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) are up 2.7% at $86.17 this morning, following an upgrade from Mizuho. The analyst lifted its rating to "buy" from "neutral," and hiked its price target to $95 from $75, adding that the equity is "positioned well for upside into 1H22 with stronger-than-expected trends in key markets including PCs, Handsets and Servers." This upgrade comes just one month after the brokerage downgraded the stock, initially predicting weak demand in the first half of 2022.
Today's pop is helping Micron stock extend its recent rally. The security shot past recent pressure at its $78 level last Friday, toppling its 160-day moving average on the way, after an Evercore ISI analyst added the equity to their "top picks" list. The stock has made quick work of recovering from its Oct. 12 annual low of $65.67, with help from the 10-day moving average, and is still up 36.6% year-over-year.
There's still room for others to join this bullish brokerage trend. Coming into today, eight of the 21 in coverage still considered MU a "hold" or worse. The 12-month consensus price target of $98.95, meanwhile, is a 14.9% premium to last night's close.
While it looks like some of these shorts are starting to hit the exits, short interest shot up 21.3% in the last reporting period, though the 24.5 million shares sold short make up just 2.2% of the stock's available float. There's been some bearish trading in the options pits, too. This is per MU's Schaeffer's put/call volume ratio (SOIR) of 1.02, which stands higher than 62% of readings from the past year, implying short-term options traders are picking up puts at a quicker-than-usual clip.