Micron (MU): demand far outruns supply
Micron (MU) has been the standout stock of 2026. Earnings land near the end of September, about a month out. The key fact: demand for its product runs 50% above what it can actually make. The stock trades at 13 times forward earnings. My target implies 64% upside from the current price.
The upside is capped in one sense - since supply is maxed out, the only lever left is how much they raise prices for customers. The real question is whether they can earn more while their output stays limited. Micron cannot fix this fast. Building more production capacity is the only path, and that will not happen soon.
Micron competes with SK Hynix (spelled here as "SK Hayek"), the largest maker of HBM memory chips. So Micron faces a rival that is doing even better in that segment.
SanDisk (SNDK): a cleaner setup
SanDisk (SNDK) tells much the same story - capacity badly outpaced by demand - and could itself be called the stock of 2026. SanDisk holds an edge: it does not have a competitor beating it the way SK Hynix beats Micron in HBM.
Boom-bust risk vs. the AI cycle
Memory chip makers usually run in boom-and-bust cycles. Demand surges, they can't meet it, they build a lot of capacity, then demand fades. For years Micron drifted, unclear where it was heading or how fast. This time is different. AI demand is so large, and its ceiling so unknown, that the old bust pattern does not apply. This is the real deal for both SanDisk and Micron.
Risk and reward
I usually don't lean this way, but after studying Micron and SanDisk for a while, I bought Micron myself two weeks ago and favor the reward side. The main danger: on the earnings call, a single negative comment - even one read the wrong way - could crush the stock, exactly as happened to Samsung and SK Hynix in South Korea in the same industry. Still, at such a low PE, the downside is small.
Sezzle (SEZL) in buy now, pay later
In fintech, Sezzle sits in the buy now, pay later space and was one of the best performers in that group. Affirm (AFRM) is another name in the sector, already covered post-earnings. Sezzle stays under the radar - few people talk about it - yet it seems to have the model figured out. A shopper buys and receives the product right away, then pays off the rest over a two- or three-week period.
