Institutional Research

The report maintains Overweight and a $1,540 December 2027 target, expecting upside in F4Q26 results and F1Q27 guidance. Its central thesis is that persistent DRAM and NAND shortages, contractual supply commitments and future capital returns are reshaping Micron's earnings durability.

• August-quarter revenue, gross margin and EPS are expected to exceed Street consensus of $51.4B, 86.2% and $31.73.
• JPMorgan expects DRAM ASPs to rise more than 20% sequentially and NAND ASPs by around 20% sequentially.
• HBM supply-demand is projected to remain in shortage through CY28, despite HBM de-specification.
• SCA coverage of forward bit production may have risen to 35%+ and could already exceed 50%.
• After 9 December 2026, Micron is committed to return 100% of excess cash over time, primarily through buybacks.

Goldman Sachs expects European Big Oils earnings to benefit from sharply stronger refining margins and gas and power markets, placing its 2026/27 EPS estimates 12%/26% above LSEG consensus. The report also highlights higher buybacks, lower gearing and differentiated upside for refining- and gas-exposed names.

• The EU Big Oils barometer rises 74% quarter-on-quarter and 279% year-on-year, led by refining.
• Aggregated EU Big Oil earnings are estimated to rise about $7.6 billion, or 13% quarter-on-quarter.
• Goldman Sachs estimates are 12% above 2026 LSEG consensus and 26% above 2027 consensus.
• ENI and Repsol offer the highest estimated 2026 shareholder returns at 11.5% and 10.6%, respectively.
• BP is expected to reduce gearing materially and resume buybacks from 2H27.
• Var Energi and Harbour Energy are identified as levered plays on European gas-price upside into winter.

The report argues that rising memory-channel requirements for AI-related CPU servers, DDR6's higher RCD content, and Montage's product migration can support ASP and gross-margin expansion. It also sees CXL MXC as a potential 2027 growth driver as customers seek to reuse DDR4 memory.

• AI-related CPU platforms could raise memory channels from 8–12 currently to 16 in 2027E and potentially 24 longer term.
• DDR6 RDIMMs are expected to require two RCDs, versus one in the current generation.
• Montage is ramping RCD04 shipments while RCD05 enters mass production.
• Management reported order visibility into 2027 and sequential supply expansion.
• CXL MXC is under customer testing and qualification and could begin ramping in 2027.
• 12-month targets are Rmb380.00 for A shares and HK$572.00 for H shares.

Five hyperscaler channel checks found Vertiv broadly viewed as a strategic, top-tier data-center infrastructure supplier. Bernstein maintains Outperform and a $368 price target, citing strong service feedback and concerns that are mostly tied to industry capacity constraints rather than company-specific failures.

• Average product-quality rating was 3.8/5 and average service-quality rating was 4.2/5 across five expert checks.
• All five experts indicated willingness to continue working with Vertiv.
• Delivery issues were generally attributed to industry-wide demand, supply-chain, commissioning and labor constraints.
• Experts generally viewed AI-data-center moratorium concerns as timing risks rather than structural demand destruction.
• Bernstein values Vertiv at 27x NTM+1 EBITDA of $5.3 billion to derive its $368 target price.

Bernstein argues that resilient consumer demand, improved advertising efficiency and platform-specific execution have lifted US e-commerce GMV. It leans positive on the group but sees 2027 growth durability as the key debate.

• US e-commerce GMV grew about 10% year-on-year through the first three quarters of 2026, versus Bernstein's 8% expectation entering the year.
• The top 14 platforms represented 82.4% of US GMV in 2Q26, up 3.2 percentage points year-on-year.
• Amazon, Shopify and Walmart captured most incremental e-commerce dollars, while eBay and Carvana also gained share.
• AI-driven ad targeting and recommendation improvements are viewed as a potentially durable driver of traffic conversion and return on ad spend.
• Bernstein rates Amazon, Shopify and Wayfair Outperform; eBay and Etsy Market-Perform; Meta Outperform; and Alphabet Market-Perform.

Goldman Sachs finds that festive mobility did not translate into stronger spirits sell-through: retailers faced double-digit declines and channel destocking remains the sector’s central task. Moutai retained relative wholesale-price resilience, while value products continued to perform more steadily.

• Two-day cross-regional passenger mobility reached about 442 million, but overall spirits sell-out declined year on year.
• Retailers saw double-digit sales declines; distributor sales were flat to down 5%-10%.
• Retail inventory returned to a healthier one to two months, but Guojiao and King’s Luck distributor inventory remained high at three to six months.
• Original-case and unpacked Feitian Moutai prices fell Rmb25 and Rmb30 week on week to Rmb1,730 and Rmb1,710, respectively.
• Mass-market products priced at Rmb100 and below showed relatively resilient demand.

The report argues that higher bond volatility and limited scope for long-dated yields to fall could weaken the traditional 60/40 duration buffer. It highlights front-end receiver swaptions, rate-sensitive equity options and equity-down/rates-up hybrids as potentially attractive scenario-specific hedges.

• Rates volatility relative to equity volatility has risen, led by the front end.
• Markets imply more upside than downside risk for US 10-year yields, with the probability gap near its widest since 2022.
• Front-end receiver swaptions are presented as a convex recession and rate-relief hedge.
• Real Estate, Utilities, Russell and Homebuilders show high monetary-policy sensitivity relative to implied volatility.
• Equity-down/rates-up hybrids target the inflationary scenario in which both equities and bonds struggle.

UBS expects a more constructive Q3 message and potential increases to 2027-28 capacity and revenue assumptions before January backlog disclosure. Its 2028 EPS estimate is 20% above consensus while the shares trade at 17x 2028E P/E.

• UBS expects FY2027 revenue growth above 30%, versus 28% consensus and 33% in its own estimate.
• EUV and immersion platforms account for about 80-85% of revenue, making pricing the largest earnings lever.
• UBS forecasts 2027E and 2028E EPS 7% and 20% above consensus, respectively.
• The €2,350 target is based on a DCF using 9% WACC and 3% terminal growth.

Goldman Sachs raises its networking-market outlook on stronger AI infrastructure demand and expects ANET, CLS and FFIV results broadly ahead of or near consensus. It reiterates Buy ratings on ANET, CLS and HPE, while keeping FFIV Neutral.

• AI Ethernet data-center switching spending is projected to reach about $100 billion in 2030, implying a 65% CAGR from 2025.
• ANET 3Q26 EPS is forecast at $1.11 versus $1.08 consensus; revenue is forecast at $3.48 billion.
• CLS 3Q26 revenue is forecast at $5.36 billion; its EPS estimate was reduced for the higher share count after its roughly $3 billion equity offering.
• FFIV F4Q26 revenue is forecast at $894 million, above $884 million consensus.

The report argues that faster TSMC A14 expansion, MediaTek's expanding TPU and ASIC opportunities, silicon-capacitor demand, and prospective wafer price increases reinforce a positive Asia semiconductor-cycle view.

• UBS estimates TSMC could reach 60kwpm of A14 capacity by end-2028, versus 30-40kwpm for N2 at the comparable stage.
• TSMC 2027E/2028E capex estimates rise to US$90bn/US$105bn from US$80bn/US$95bn.
• MediaTek's new ASIC projects, including SpaceX Dojo3 and Tesla AI6, could represent up to US$10-15bn of revenue opportunity.
• UBS estimates non-TSMC silicon-capacitor demand could reach 40-50kwpm in 2028-29.
• The report forecasts wafer price hikes from H2 2026 and potentially more than 20% year-on-year in 2027-28E.