Micron & 4 Promising Semiconductor Stocks For Your Portfolio

The semiconductor industry, which is among the 11 sub-industries in the broader technology sector, has been one of the outperformers so far this year. Notably, iShares PHLX Semiconductor ETF (SOXX – Free Report) , which represents semiconductor stocks, has witnessed a year-to-date (YTD) gain of approximately 15.7%; while the Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLK – Free Report) , which represents the overall technology sector, returned 14.2% YTD.

After a dismal 2015, which witnessed SOXX ETF lose over 3.3%, stocks across the semiconductor landscape rebounded well last year and the momentum is likely to continue this year as well. In 2016, SOXX ETF gained 36.6%, while the XLK ETF returned 12.9%.

Micron Technology Inc. (MU – Free Report) was one of the best performers in the semiconductor space last year. The stock clocked solid returns in 2016 and gained approximately 54.8%, outperforming the Zacks Electronic-Semiconductor industry’s return of about 31.9%. The momentum continued this year and the stock has been up 43.5% so far this year, while the industry has just gained 14.8%.

The robust performance is mainly because of the company’s phenomenal results in back-to-back quarters. This has boosted investor confidence in the stock significantly.

The company recently reported strong third-quarter fiscal 2017 results, wherein the top and bottom lines, both, came ahead of the Zacks Consensus Estimate. Micron’s revenues in the quarter jumped 92.1% on a year-over-year basis to $5.566 billion and surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $5.370 billion.

The year-over-year increase was primarily due to strong DRAM pricing environment and favourable product mix. Also, reported revenues increased on a quarter-over-quarter basis (up 20%), primarily due to pricing improvement in the DRAM and NAND sales volume.

Notably, the company is benefiting from improved pricing for consecutive four quarters, which has helped it to register tremendous year-over-year growth in the top and bottom lines.