Leveraged Cat
Equity Swing Trader
Micron and memory now call for great caution after an earlier bullish view, because several announcements of new supply coming online have appeared in recent weeks. More supply will keep coming as long as prices stay elevated. The memory cycle may last much longer than people think, but the near term looks tough for bulls. x.com x.com x.comÂ
Micron's roughly $1.37 trillion valuation already prices a durable rise in through-cycle earnings that memory's history has never shown. A reverse DCF at 9% WACC and 2% growth implies about $95 billion of steady cash flow, versus a record $9.2 billion and a ten-year average near $1.9 billion. At a 30% FCFF margin that needs about $317 billion of revenue, over 8x fiscal 2025 sales. The HBM bull case is real, but fiscal 2023's swing to a -37% operating margin shows how fast pricing reverses. x.comÂ
Micron's risk-reward for longs is unappealing because Chinese memory makers could crush the non-HBM profits that still make up most of its earnings. State-backed firms such as CXMT trail in HBM but can aggressively expand low-end capacity if Beijing wants, as China has done elsewhere. HBM growth is unlikely to offset that: memory nears 50% of rack bill of materials, and Micron locking in half its revenue for five years at capped prices suggests pricing has peaked, leaving growth to volume. x.com … Show more
Micron's memory leadership remains intact because it is sold out into 2027. A red day does not change those fundamentals; anyone arguing it has topped must identify which part of demand breaks and when. x.comÂ
Micron's latest earnings may have marked the top for memory and semiconductors, because cyclical stocks peak on the best news and numbers. Record EPS, 80% margins and low P/E ratios are cited now, not in late 2024 and early 2025, when Gavin Baker and Citrini bought before results showed up. As with the supply-and-demand stories during gold and silver's parabolic run, the memory bottleneck may stop being discussed within six months as the crowd moves on. x.comÂ
Micron is at its top because memory stocks peak when margins peak, well before the shortage flips to oversupply, expected by 2028. Memory is tech's most brutally cyclical business: shortage, record prices, margins and capex, then new capacity arrives at once and becomes a glut. Micron trades at record highs on record DRAM prices, with memory's biggest capex wave under construction. In past oversupply cycles it fell 90% in 2000, 80% in 2008, 50% in 2018 and 47% in 2022. x.comÂ
Micron's ordinary memory could see tighter supply because HBM consumes far more factory capacity than conventional DRAM. Meeting AI demand could thus extend Micron's opportunity beyond AI memory. x.comÂ
Memory stocks are at the peak of the cycle, and FOMO buying into Micron and SanDisk now could be one of the dumbest moves. Chinese factories are coming online at lightning speed, which is why Micron is signing multi-year deals, and pricing power is peaking right now. The market is forward-looking, so a low forward P/E matters little if net income drops 60-90% a few years out. Per Kalshi, the memory ETF just passed $25 billion in assets for the first time. x.com x.com x.comÂ
Micron faces a severe crash risk from CXMT's current threat and apparent investor complacency after a euphoric high. If the Wall St Cheat Sheet fits, most of Micron's gains across 40 years, amassed in just one year, could be erased soon. Earlier, Elon Musk said Micron had been reasonable on future memory prices; memory stocks were not yet to be faded. x.com x.comÂ
Micron's HBM and server-memory scarcity is backed by customer commitments beyond its earlier sold-out 2026 capacity. Per management and sell-side reports, more than about 75% of fiscal 2027 shipments are allocated or contracted, supply may not rebalance through 2028, and 2027 HBM prices have risen significantly. Strategic agreements extend through 2030; a later supply glut or faster Chinese competition could erode margins. x.comÂ
Micron's upside is now capped while its downside remains, because its long-term agreements will be meaningless if the memory cycle turns. In hard times, even bona fide take-or-pay contracts get challenged through material adverse change clauses, so the agreements offer little protection. Memory's shareholder base is also turning over from fast money chasing pricing and revisions to growth-at-a-reasonable-price investors, who do not believe the earnings are sustainable. x.com x.comÂ
