UPDATE: Piper Jaffray Raises PT on Micron Technology Following May'13 Qtr Results

In a report published on Thursday, Piper Jaffray analyst Jagadish Iyer raised the price taget on Micron Technology MU from $12 to $18 and maintained an Overweight rating on the company.

In the report, Piper Jaffray commented, "Micron reported F3Q13 revenues of $2.32bn (+12%q/q, cons. $2.25bn) driven primarily by DRAM sales (47% of total, +22% q/q) as it leveraged higher volumes from Inotera where it has the lowest cost. NAND sales were up 6% q/q on better blended ASPs (+8% q/q) with improving mix shift to SSD (~20% of NAND sales). Overall FQ2'13 Gross margins improved 640bps q/q to 24% on mainly better pricing. GAAP EPS was $0.04 was a beat (cons. $0.03) on lower opex. With 3D NAND likely to be a 2015 event at the earliest, we see continued headroom for 2D scaling and cost reduction, thereby providing margin stability. Finally, Micron expects to close Elpida before the Aug'13 quarter and we see them benefiting from a significant incremental revenue ramp (~$1bn/quarter on a very modest depreciation increase). Adjusting estimates and increasing price target to $18. Reiterate Overweight rating."

Micron Technology closed on Wednesday at $13.97