A Look at Micron Stock Before Earnings

Semiconductor maker Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) is slated to take to the earnings confessional, where it will report fiscal fourth-quarter financial results after the close on Wednesday, Sept. 25.

Looking over its last eight earnings reports, MU has a history of outsized moves the following trading session. The equity jumped 14.1% after its March earnings report, and fell 7.1% following its June results. Regardless of direction, the options pits are pricing in a 13%  move this time around. 

No stranger to bear notes, the chip stock recently received a rare double downgrade. Today, Wells Fargo cut its price target on the shares to $175 from $190, but maintained its "overweight" rating. It seems as though MU is overdue for more price-target cuts, considering its 12-month average price objective of $160.68 is an 84.4% premium to its current perch of $87.12.

Since touching an all-time high of $157.54 on June 18, shares have pulled back considerably, touching a more than five-month low of $84.12 on Sept. 12. In recent session, Micron stock's 320-day moving average has capped all attempts to move up on the charts, resulting in a modest 2.1% year-to-date gain.

MU short-term players have been incredibly call-biased. This is per the stock's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) that sits higher than just 4% of readings from the past year.