Mizuho Upgrades Micron (MU) and Western Digital (WDC) to Buy as Demand Trends Improve for Memory

Mizuho analyst Vijay Rakesh upgraded shares of Micron Technology (NASDAQ: MU) and Western Digital (NASDAQ: WDC) to Buy from Neutral amid increasing tailwinds for memory, a month after downgrading both stocks on soft 1H22 expectations for PC/Server/Handset.

“However, our recent checks indicate the "ACTUAL" demand is improving across all three markets with 1) 1Q22 PC/NB builds only FLAT to down 5% q/ q (ABOVE our prior assumption for down 10-15% q/q), with 2022 PCs FLAT to UP 5% y/y, 2) Handsets better as China OEMs could have a counter-seasonal FLAT 1Q22 (ABOVE our previous assumption of down 10% q/q), 3) Server demand could improve in 1Q22 with AMZN/GOOGL orders returning potentially early 1Q22, despite >10 wk DRAM inventory,” Rakesh said in a client note.

New price targets for Micron and Western Digital are $95.00 per share and $75.00 from the prior $75.00 and $55.00, respectively.

Shares of Micron and Western Digital are up 1.1% and 1.9%, respectively, in pre-open Tuesday.

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