SpaceX Stock vs. Micron Stock: Buy One and Sell the Other, According to Certain Wall Street Analysts

Space Exploration Technologies (NASDAQ: SPCX) and Micron Technologies (NASDAQ: MU) are two of the most popular stocks on the market, but CFRA analysts think they are headed in opposite directions.

• Keith Snyder at CFRA has a sell rating on SpaceX. His target price of $115 per share implies 12% downside from its current share price of $131.
• Angelo Zino at CFRA has a buy rating on Micron. His target price of $1,500 per share implies 76% upside from its current share price of $853.

Here's what investors should know about these popular stocks.

Image source: The Motley Fool.

SpaceX: 12% downside implied by CFRA's target price

SpaceX dominates the global space industry. The company accounted for more than 80% of spacecraft launches last year, and it has fired more satellites into orbit than the rest of the world combined. SpaceX's competitive advantage lies in reusable rockets. Its Falcon 9 rocket cut launch costs by 85% compared to the historical average, and its next-generation Starship will reduce costs by 99%.

"Central to our cost advantage is the reusability of key hardware -- most notably boosters -- which we recover, refurbish, and refly many times instead of discarding after single use," SpaceX explained in its Form S-1. "This dramatically lowers per-launch costs by minimizing hardware replacement expenses and spreading fixed production costs across repeated uses."

SpaceX has leaned on its ability to launch rockets quickly and efficiently to build Starlink, the largest space-based internet service. Starlink has more than 10,000 satellites in orbit, and it serves 12 million subscribers. Recently, the company set its sights on mobile connectivity, where it may challenge AT&T and Verizon. Tim Horan at Oppenheimer writes, "SpaceX will disrupt the $1.6 trillion communications industry."

SpaceX's first-quarter financial results were unimpressive. Revenue increased 15% to $4.6 billion. Sales in the connectivity segment (i.e., Starlink) grew quickly, but that was offset by weaker sales growth in the artificial intelligence segment and a sales decline in the space segment. The company also reported a net loss of $4.2 billion, much worse than its $528 million loss in the previous year.

However, SpaceX's revenue growth should accelerate in the coming quarters, particularly in the AI segment. The company recently signed cloud services agreements with Anthropic and Alphabet's Google, which will rent AI infrastructure for monthly fees of $1.25 billion and $920 million, respectively.

The problem is valuation. SpaceX trades at 88 times sales. That makes it more expensive than every other stock in the S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) and Nasdaq-100, which leaves plenty of room for downside.

I think patient investors can buy a small position today, but the keyword is small. Despite trading below its IPO price of $135 per share, the stock is still risky.

Micron Technology: 76% upside implied by CFRA's target price

Micron develops memory and storage solutions across four end markets: automotive, data center, cloud, and mobile. The company manufactures DRAM products, including high-bandwidth memory (HBM), which serves as working memory for artificial intelligence tasks. Micron also builds NAND flash products, which serve as long-term storage for training data and models.

In terms of market share, Micron trails the industry leaders Samsung and SK Hynix in DRAM and NAND. But the company is still growing quickly because demand for memory far exceeds supply. In fact, the supply shortage is so severe that DRAM and NAND prices have increased about 90% and 110%, respectively, in the past year.

Micron's third-quarter fiscal 2026 (ended in May) financial results trounced Wall Street's estimates. Revenue increased 345% to $41.4 billion due to particularly strong growth in the data center segment, which serves non-hyperscalers. Meanwhile, non-GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles) net income surged 1,215% to $25.11 per diluted share.

CEO Sanjay Mehrotra delivered great news during the conference call. Micron has now signed 16 long-term supply agreements (i.e., three to five years) that offer some downside protection in a historically cyclical industry. Those deals generally include minimum pricing terms and binding commitments to purchase specific volumes.

So what? The memory chip industry has traditionally run on boom-and-bust cycles. Periods of robust demand (and price hikes) have generally preceded periods of weak demand (and price cuts). That led to substantial volatility.

For instance, Micron's sales fell 50% in fiscal 2023. But multiyear supply agreements should limit downside during the next industry downturn.

Micron currently trades at 10.7 times sales, a big premium to the five-year average of 4.7 times sales. But that valuation is quite reasonable, perhaps even cheap, for a company whose sales are forecast to grow at 115% annually through fiscal 2027 (ends in August). Micron stock is currently 30% below its high, and investors should consider buying the dip.

Trevor Jennewine has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet and Micron Technology. The Motley Fool recommends Verizon Communications. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.