Shares of memory and semiconductor companies soared in premarket trading on Thursday after Micron Technology reported fiscal third-quarter results that far exceeded analyst expectations. Micron posted adjusted earnings of $25.11 per share on revenue of $41.46 billion, both well above consensus estimates. For the upcoming fourth quarter, the company guided for EPS of roughly $31 on revenue of approximately $50 billion, handily beating the Street’s projections.
The blockbuster report triggered a sector-wide rally. Western Digital jumped around 13%, hitting $726.00 in the premarket, while Sandisk surged 15% and Seagate Technology climbed 8.4%. Other chip-related names also moved higher, with Applied Materials up 7%, Intel rising 5.1%, and Qualcomm surging 12% after it updated its long-term revenue targets at an investor event. Qualcomm now aims for $40 billion in non-handset revenue by fiscal 2029, driven by data center, automotive, and IoT segments.
From a technical perspective, Western Digital remains firmly in breakout territory, trading about 22% above its 20-day moving average and over 160% above its 200-day moving average. The stock’s 52-week range — from a low of $62.13 to a high of $799.87 — underscores the dramatic recovery in memory demand. Analysts have been raising price targets, with Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan, and Mizuho all lifting their outlooks. Western Digital is scheduled to report its own quarterly results on or around July 29.
Other notable movers included Wendy’s, which rose 15% amid renewed retail mania from Reddit’s WallStreetBets community, and Alibaba, which fell after AI firm Anthropic accused it of illicitly accessing its models. However, the dominant theme of the session was the upbeat earnings from Micron, which underscored robust demand in the memory chip cycle.
