Micron Adds $20 Billion in Value in Best Month Since 2009

(Bloomberg) -- For Micron Technology Inc. investors, it paid to hold in May.

The largest U.S. maker of memory chips has added about $20 billion in market value this month fueled in part by a forecast for better-than-expected financial performance and a $10 billion share buyback plan. Micron’s 37 percent gain in May puts it on track for its best monthly performance since 2009. The stock is now trading at the highest since the dot-com bubble burst in 2000.

Micron rose 3.2 percent on Tuesday to $63.29, bringing gains for the year to 54 percent, the third-best performance in the S&P 500 index. Still, despite a banner 2018, driven by surging demand for chips that store data in everything from servers to home appliances, the stock is a long way from the record high of $96.56 set on July 14, 2000.

Boise, Idaho-based Micron has "remade itself into a DRAM and NAND powerhouse" and transitioned from a value investment to a growth play, Argus Research said in a note on Tuesday.

"We recommend that investors use any weakness in the share price or in the overall market as an opportunity to add to or initiate positions," Argus said.

Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra is scheduled to present at the Bernstein Strategic Decisions Conference in New York on Thursday at 1 p.m. local time.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jeran Wittenstein in San Francisco at jwittenstei1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Catherine Larkin at clarkin4@bloomberg.net, Christiana Sciaudone, Brad Olesen

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