Diamonds and Dogs

12/19/19

Micron Technology (MU) shines following earnings. The DRAM maker is up 2% to new highs following better than expected earnings and positive guidance. Micron is optimistic that its current quarter will likely mark a "bottom" in terms of its financial performance, reinforcing expectations of a rebound in sales and earnings driven by stronger demand for memory chips in computers and portable storage devices. 2020 should be a good year for Micron due to strong demand from cloud-computing providers, and an eventual boost from 5G networks, which require more memory per device.

Darden Restaurants (DRI) empty during the holidays. The owner of Olive Garden and Longhorn Steakhouse is down 4% to a ten-month low after posting earnings and disappointing second-quarter same-store sales. For fiscal 2020, the company expects same-store sales growth between 1% and 2%. Goldman Sachs initiated Darden with a Sell and a $115 price target.