Skip to navigationSkip to main contentSkip to right columnADVERTISEMENTWill Healy, The Motley FoolFri, September 18, 2026 at 12:10 PM GMT+2 5 min readMicron (NASDAQ: MU) has experienced extreme price swings during the past 17 months. Since hitting a low in April 2025, the stock has risen 15-fold.That increase includes the 22% pullback in the stock price since its high in June, placing the semiconductor stock in an interesting but uncertain position heading into its Sept. 30 earnings report date. From some perspectives, the stock remains appealing despite its dramatic rise, but its history suggests it may not be as attractive as some analysts may think.Missed Nvidia in 2009? This Rare Signal Is Flashing Again. In 2009, a "Double Down" signal flashed for a little-known chipmaker called Nvidia. For the first time in years, that same "Total Conviction" signal is flashing for a company 1/100th the size of Nvidia. Continue »Knowing that, should investors treat the stock as a buying opportunity ahead of the earnings announcement, or interpret the pullback as a warning and stay away from the memory giant?Image source: The Motley Fool.Micron's meteoric riseOne particular product offering is the primary reason for the stock's rise -- high-bandwidth memory (HBM).Nvidia investors may talk about how that company's artificial intelligence (AI) accelerators are critical to AI development. However, HBM is nearly as critical.HBM is not the same type of memory that powers most tech products. Instead, it is a 3D-stacked DRAM (dynamic random-access memory) designed for the enormous data throughput needed for AI, data-intensive workloads, and high-performance computing.Micron is only one of three companies manufacturing this memory, along with Samsung and SK Hynix. Not surprisingly, demand for AI infrastructure is such that Micron and its peers cannot produce it fast enough.That shortage has sent memory prices soaring, dramatically improving the company's financials. Revenue in the first three quarters of fiscal 2026 (ended May 28) was $79 billion, up 203% from the same period last year. That led to net income for the same time frame of $47 billion, compared with $5.3 billion during the same year-ago period.In the near term, growth is on track to accelerate. Demand is so strong that analysts forecast Micron will end the fiscal year with a 247% revenue increase, then slow to 88% in fiscal 2027.Despite those gains, Micron stock trades at only 21 times trailing earnings. At least on the surface, that makes Micron appear undervalued, which may motivate investors to buy more.Why now could be a time for cautionHowever, Micron probably owes its low price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio to the nature of its business and the stock's history.Terms and Privacy PolicyEU DSA contactPrivacy & Cookie SettingsMore Info