FILE PHOTO: The company logo is seen on the Micron Technology Inc. offices in Shanghai, China May 25, 2023. REUTERS/Aly Song/File Photo
(Reuters) -Chipmaker Micron Technology's shares jumped 7% on Thursday after it predicted a strong recovery in the supply-demand balance for memory and flash storage in 2024.
The company's quarterly results on Wednesday exceeded market expectations and it forecast a strong February quarter in a clear sign that memory chip prices will improve next year to recover from a months-long downturn.
Its shares rose as much as $85.99 on Thursday to a near 21-month high. They have gained roughly 60% this year in anticipation of an industry recovery.
Stock is either at or near normal levels for most of its customers across personal computer, mobile, automotive and industrial markets, Micron said, while data center inventories will approach those levels in the first half of 2024.
"Market rebounds are happening earlier than we previously thought," Morningstar analysts said.
Micron's upbeat results for the quarter ended Nov. 30 as well as its forecast raised similar expectations from other chip companies that would report early next year, lifting their shares.
The Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index rose 2%, driven by gains in shares of companies such as Nvidia , Advanced Micro Devices, Qualcomm, Intel and Broadcom.
Micron also said it was in "the final stages" to qualify its high-bandwidth memory chips for use in Nvidia's most powerful AI platforms.
Such high-end memory chips are among Micron's most profitable products and will draw in "several hundred million" dollars in revenue in fiscal 2024, the company said.
Analysts expect AI-fueled demand to help Micron's rebound.
Rising demand for such chips is "likely to be a tailwind for MU (Micron) for at least the next 2 quarters and likely longer", Piper Sandler analysts wrote in a note.
At least 12 brokerages raised their price targets after results, LSEG data showed. Micron's forward price-to-earnings ratio is 32.45 for the next 12 months, compared with the industry's 21.03.
(Reporting by Chavi Mehta in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)
