Market Update (NASDAQ:INTC): Micron Rising: Sure, Intel’s a Risk, But Buy The Stock Anyway, Says Brean

[at Barrons.com] – Shares of Micron Technology (MU) are up 35 cents, or 3.4%, at $10.75, boosted by not one but two thumbs up from the Street today. In addition to an upgrade of the shares to Strong Buy from Outperform by Raymond James’s Hans Mosesmann, the shares got new coverage today, from Brean Capital’s Mike Burton, who assigns it a Buy rating and a $14 price target, writing that it is “well-positioned to take advantage of the long-term favorable trends in DRAM as well as the continued growth and margin improvement in NAND.” Among the intriguing points Burton tackles is the company’s manufacturing partnership with Intel (INTC) for NAND flash. Burton poses the question of whether Intel is “friend or foe,” given that it could end up pushing up supply, which would be harmful. Read more on this. Intel Corporation (INTC) , valued at $148.41B, started the session at $31.79. Today’s price range has been between $31.38 and $31.89 per share with the price of the stock fluctuating between $24.87 to $35.59 over the last 52 weeks. INTC shares are currently priced at 13.36x this year’s forecasted earnings, which makes them relatively expensive compared to the industry’s 5.81x forward p/e ratio. And for income investors, the company pays shareholders $1.04 per share annually in dividends, yielding 3.26%. Consensus earnings for the current quarter by the 28 sell-side analysts covering the stock is an estimate of $0.48 per share, which would be $0.07 better than the year-ago quarter and a $0.02 sequential decrease. In looking at the bigger picture, the full-year EPS estimate of $2.38 would be a $0.05 improvement when compared to the previous year’s annual results. The quarterly earnings estimate is predicated on a consensus revenue forecast of $13.88 Billion. If reported, that would be a 8.61% increase over the year-ago quarter. In terms of ratings, Brean Capital Initiated INTC at Buy (Apr 7, 2016). Previously, Exane BNP Paribas downgraded INTC from Outperform to Neutral. The average price target for INTC shares by the analysts covering it is $35.71, which is 12.33% above where the stock opened. See more in (NASDAQ:INTC) Similar Articles: Market Update: Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) – Qualcomm (QCOM) Stock Climbs, Bernstein Bullish Despite Intel Risk Stock Update (NASDAQ:INTC): Drone Wars: DJI Vs. Intel (INTC) Market Update (NASDAQ:INTC): Intel (INTC) Stock Drops Despite Macquarie’s Bullish Remarks