‘If I try to put myself back into the shoes of me as a 21-year-old, all I can tell you is this: I was hungry,’ writes Gary Stevenson in his recently released memoir, The Trading Game, which tells the story of how the son of a Post Office worker briefly became the highest-paid trader working on Citi’s bond trading floor at London’s Canary Wharf. He sits down with host Claer Barrett to talk about what he learned about trading and how the wider economy works – and why he’s worried.

Find Gary @garyseconomics on YouTube, X, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. Read Gary Stevenson’s recent FT Magazine profile by Miles Ellingham.

For more tips on how to organise your money, sign up to Claer’s email series ‘Sort Your Financial Life Out With Claer Barrett’ at FT.com/moneycourse.

If you would like to be a guest on a future episode of Money Clinic, email us at money@ft.com or send Claer a DM on social media — she’s @ClaerB on X, Instagram and TikTok.

Want more?

Check out Claer’s column, The hunt for good value UK stocks.

Listen to more episodes, such as Investment Masterclass: An insider’s view of the City of London, Investment masterclass: what’s one of the world’s leading investors buying?, and more.

Presented by Claer Barrett. Produced by Tamara Kormornick. Our executive producer is Manuela Saragosa. Sound design by Breen Turner, with original music from Metaphor Music. Cheryl Brumley is the FT’s global head of audio.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

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How much a stock’s price changes over time is important for most investors, since price performance can both impact your investment portfolio and help you compare investment results across sectors and industries.

The fear of missing out, or FOMO, also plays a factor in investing, especially with particular tech giants, as well as popular consumer-facing stocks.

What if you’d invested in Micron (MU) ten years ago? It may not have been easy to hold on to MU for all that time, but if you did, how much would your investment be worth today?

Micron’s Business In-Depth

With that in mind, let’s take a look at Micron’s main business drivers.

Idaho-based Micron Technology has established itself as one of the leading worldwide providers of semiconductor memory solutions.

Through global brands, namely Micron, Crucial and Ballistix, Micron manufactures and markets high-performance memory and storage technologies including Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), NAND flash memory, NOR Flash, 3D XPoint memory and other technologies. Its solutions are used in leading-edge computing, consumer, networking and mobile products.

A major portion of the revenues is derived from DRAM sales. The company’s mission is to be the most efficient and innovative global provider of semiconductor memory solutions.

Micron reported revenues of $15.54 billion in fiscal 2023. The company has four reportable segments:

Compute and Networking Business Unit (CNBU): The unit comprises of DRAM and NOR Flash products that are sold to the computer, networking, graphics, and cloud server markets, and NAND Flash products which are sold into the networking market. CNBU delivered revenues of $5.71 billion (37% of total revenues) in fiscal 2023.

Mobile Business Unit (MBU): The unit comprises Micron’s discrete DRAM, discrete NAND and managed NAND (including eMMC and universal flash storage (UFS) solutions) products that are sold to smartphone and other mobile-device markets. MBU generated revenues of $3.63 billion (23%) in fiscal 2023.

Storage Business Unit (SBU): The unit accounts for solid state drives (SSDs) and component-level solutions sold into enterprise and cloud, client and consumer storage markets as well as other discrete storage products sold in component and wafer forms to the removable storage markets. SBU’s revenues grossed $2.55 billion (16%) in fiscal 2023.

Embedded Business Unit (EBU): The unit includes Micron’s discrete DRAM, discrete NAND, managed NAND and NOR products, which are sold to the automotive, industrial and consumer markets. EBU’s revenues logged $3.64 billion (24%) in fiscal 2023.

The company struggles with intense competition from Intel, Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, Toshiba Memory and Western Digital Corporation.

Bottom Line

While anyone can invest, building a lucrative investment portfolio takes research, patience, and a little bit of risk. If you had invested in Micron ten years ago, you’re probably feeling pretty good about your investment today.

According to our calculations, a $1000 investment made in April 2014 would be worth $5,416.81, or a gain of 441.68%, as of April 17, 2024, and this return excludes dividends but includes price increases.

The S&P 500 rose 171.24% and the price of gold increased 76.28% over the same time frame in comparison.

Looking ahead, analysts are expecting more upside for MU.

Micron’s better-than-expected second-quarter performance reflects gains from improved market conditions, strong sales executions and double-digit growth across multiple business units. The positive impact of inventory improvement in the data center, as well as stabilization in other markets, such as automotive, industrial and others, have also contributed to its results. It anticipates the pricing of Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) and NAND chips will keep increasing next year, hence improving its revenues. The pricing benefits will primarily be driven by rising AI server causing a scarcity in the availability of cutting-edge DRAM and NAND supply. The 5G adoption in the Internet of Things devices and wireless infrastructure is likely to spur demand for memory and storage.

Over the past four weeks, shares have rallied 29.54%, and there have been 7 higher earnings estimate revisions in the past two months for fiscal 2024 compared to none lower. The consensus estimate has moved up as well.

Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report

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(Bloomberg) — The UK is considering new curbs on outward investment in emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and semiconductors, citing the potential security risks of aiding hostile states such as Russia and China.

Britain’s deputy prime minister Oliver Dowden, who oversees the UK’s investment regime, said he’s planning to work with other Group of Seven nations to assess the risks and consider whether to introduce extra restrictions.

The government’s concern is that some outbound investments may be used to “facilitate and support and aid strategic uplift of adversaries,” Dowden said in an interview, citing areas such as semi-conductor manufacturing, cryogenic equipment and facial recognition technology. Nevertheless, “there’s a high bar for the imposition of any form of restrictions,” he said.

The UK’s focus on the issue follows President Joe Biden’s order last year to limit US investment in some Chinese advanced technology companies, as Western nations try to strike a balance between protecting national security while encouraging free trade and innovation. Dowden said he will also review Britain’s approach to export controls and clarify the circumstances in which the government would review inward investment in sensitive sectors like critical minerals and semiconductors.

Read More: UK Weighs Measures to Crimp Investment in China After Biden

“The risk landscape is increasing all the time,” Dowden said, referring to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Chinese aggression in the South China Sea and the threat of ransomware attacks. “We are in a state of cyber and economic contestation with an increasing range of state and non-state actors.”

The move by Biden last year regulated US investments in some Chinese semiconductor, quantum computing and AI firms, and the British government said at the time that it would consider its own next steps. 

Yet whether the Conservative Party will be in power to see through changes in this area is far from certain, given the opposition Labour Party’s commanding poll lead ahead of a general election that must be called by January 2025 at the latest.

©2024 Bloomberg L.P.

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