Micron's stock gains, signaling a 'return to optimism' about the chip sector

By Britney Nguyen

Investors are looking forward to Samsung's earnings and SK Hynix's U.S. listing, experts say

Micron's stock was on the rebound on Monday.

Shares of Micron Technology and other chip names rose Monday, rebounding after a tough stretch last week.

Shares of storage makers Western Digital (WDC) and Seagate Technology (STX) gained more than 7% and 5%, respectively, on Monday. Meanwhile, shares of memory players Micron (MU) rose 1%, after jumping 4% at one point in intraday trading, while Sandisk (SNDK) slipped fractionally.

The action could be a sign of "some return to optimism," D.A. Davidson analyst Gil Luria told MarketWatch, as investors anticipate "good news" from South Korean memory giants Samsung Electronics (KR:005930) and SK Hynix (KR:000660) later this week.

Samsung will put out its preliminary second-quarter earnings report on Tuesday. The company, which among other things makes dynamic random-access memory chips, is reportedly looking to raise the average sales price of those chips by 20% as demand driven by artificial intelligence continues to outpace supply.

Samsung, Micron and SK Hynix are the world's top producers of high-bandwidth memory, or HBM, which involves stacking multiple DRAM dies for the more customized memory solutions wanted by AI chip makers such as Nvidia (NVDA).

Additionally, SK Hynix is preparing to list up to $29 billion worth of its shares on the Nasdaq through American depositary receipts on Friday, giving U.S. investors an easier way to invest in the company.

Michael Monaghan, a portfolio manager at Founder ETFs, said in emailed comments that Monday's action reflects how "memory stocks are volatile."

"We favor semiconductor equipment, foundries, CPU-related compute infrastructure, and memory within the 'picks and shovels' of the AI build-out, but we also see value in defensive areas such as payment networks and data center REITs," Ulrike Hoffmann-Burchardi, UBS's global head of equities, wrote in emailed comments.

Don't miss: Highflying hedge fund run by former OpenAI researcher will be cornerstone investor in SK Hynix U.S. listing

Meanwhile, shares of Broadcom (AVGO) climbed nearly 4% after the company disclosed that it is expanding its agreement with Apple (AAPL) to supply the iPhone maker with custom chips for "multiple generations" of its products through 2031. Apple's stock gained 1.3%.

Custom chip maker Marvell Technology's stock (MRVL) advanced 1.6%, while Advanced Micro Devices shares (AMD) soared more than 6%. Nvidia's stock was up less than 1%.

-Britney Nguyen

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07-06-26 1633ET