The Numbers, In Full
Micron reported fiscal Q3 2026 results on June 24 that weren’t just a beat — they were a statement. Revenue came in at $41.46 billion, versus analyst estimates of $35.84B and a year-ago figure of $9.3B. That’s a 346% year-over-year increase. EPS came in at $25.11 adjusted, versus $20.78 estimated and $1.91 a year earlier. The stock closed at $1,048.51 and jumped to $1,180 in after-hours trading, up 12.59% on the print.
| Metric | Actual | Estimate | Year Ago |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $41.46B | $35.84B | $9.3B |
| Adj. EPS | $25.11 | $20.78 | $1.91 |
| Gross Margin | 84.9% | — | 39% |
| Q4 Revenue Guide | ~$50B | $43.58B | $11.3B |
What the Business Actually Looks Like Now
Memory is not a commodity right now — it’s a constrained resource, and Micron is one of three companies on earth that can supply it at scale. The revenue breakdown tells you exactly where the growth is coming from:
- Data center memory: $11.5B — up 7x year-over-year from $1.53B
- Cloud memory: $13.77B — up over 300% YoY
- Data center SSDs: $5B+
- Mobile & client: $11.52B — up 250% YoY
- Automotive & embedded: $4.63B — up 4x YoY
Every segment went up. But the data center business — the one that matters for the AI story — went from $1.53B to $11.5B in twelve months. That’s not a cyclical upturn. That’s structural repricing of what memory is worth in an AI-driven world.
Gross margin hit 84.9%, up from 74.9% last quarter and 39% a year ago. When you control a scarce resource and demand is accelerating, margins do exactly this. Net income for the quarter was $28.24 billion — roughly what the entire company earned in revenue just a few quarters ago.
The CEO Said Supply Stays Tight Through 2028
CEO Sanjay Mehrotra didn’t mince words on the call: “Our customers are recognizing that supply shortages in memory and storage will take considerable time to improve, even as we expect industry supply to improve gradually in 2028.”
That single sentence is the most important thing out of this earnings report. He’s not just saying demand is strong — he’s saying the supply side can’t catch up for at least two more years. This is the structural argument for why pricing power and margins hold.
Micron also disclosed 16 long-term customer agreements spanning three to five years, with $22 billion in committed purchase volume. These are binding contracts, not soft commitments. CFO Mark Murphy told analysts: “We get visibility on our demand, it’s committed volume that we can be confident about making our investments.” When completed, roughly half of total company revenue will be under these agreements.
The Anthropic Deal: AI Is Locking In Supply
Two days before this earnings report, Micron announced a four-pillar strategic agreement with Anthropic — one of the largest AI labs in the world. The deal covers a multi-year supply of HBM, DRAM, and SSDs for Anthropic’s data centers; joint memory architecture co-design for AI workloads; a strategic investment in Anthropic’s Series H round (which closed at a $965 billion valuation on $65B raised); and enterprise deployment of Claude across Micron’s own operations.
This is the context that makes this week’s SK Hynix-driven selloff look like a overreaction. While one memory maker signaled it might slow AI expansion, Micron was quietly locking in multi-year supply agreements with the companies building the frontier AI systems. Both can’t be right. Wednesday’s results suggest Micron’s read on demand was the accurate one.
Where the Stock Stands
MU has had one of the more remarkable runs in recent memory — up roughly 700% over the past year, with the 52-week range running from $103.38 to $1,213.56. The stock crossed $1 trillion in market cap in May 2026. After-hours it’s sitting at $1,180, which puts it back near its 52-week highs with Q4 guidance of $50B still ahead.
The key question at this price is whether the earnings trajectory justifies the valuation. At $1,180 AH and $25.11 in quarterly EPS, you’re paying roughly 11-12x annualized earnings — which is actually not expensive if margins stay near 85% and guidance is $50B next quarter. The bear case is simple: what happens when supply finally catches up in 2028 and pricing power fades? The bull case is that AI compute demand keeps expanding faster than supply can respond, and Micron’s 16 locked-in customer agreements suggest the next two years are already underwritten.
Position Framework
- Starter: $1,050–$1,100 on any post-earnings pullback from AH highs
- Add: $950–$1,000 if the market gives it back on macro pressure
- Trim: $1,300+ or on any guidance cut / margin compression signal
- Target: $1,400–$1,500 if Q4 $50B guide is hit and Q1 FY2027 stays strong
- Invalidation: CEO walks back 2028 supply tightness narrative, or hyperscaler capex signals a real pullback
The SK Hynix noise was real for 48 hours. Micron just reminded the market who actually has the demand signal. If you’re in AI infrastructure — and MU belongs in that conversation — this earnings report is the validation you were waiting for.