Nvidia, Micron Lead Four Firms After Cash and Forecast Gains

Nvidia and Micron led four companies — CrowdStrike and Palo Alto Networks were the other two — that reported sharp increases in operating or free cash flow and raised profit forecasts.

Nvidia reported a record $50.3 billion of operating cash flow in its fiscal first quarter, up from $27.4 billion a year earlier, and free cash flow of about $48.6 billion. The company has support for an additional $80 billion share-repurchase authorization. Consensus fiscal 2027 earnings estimates rose about 14% to $9.34 a share from $8.18. KeyBanc analyst John Vinh raised his price target to $330 from $310, retained an Overweight rating and wrote that Nvidia’s CUDA software stack creates “significant barriers to entry,” adding he expects volume from the Vera Rubin product line to begin ramping in July despite a small delay.

Micron posted fiscal third-quarter operating cash flow of $25.39 billion, up from $4.61 billion a year earlier, and free cash flow of about $18 billion. FactSet now projects fiscal 2026 earnings near $73.20 a share. The company cited long-term customer agreements that add revenue visibility and noted that it remains exposed to swings in memory pricing and to industry tendencies toward periodic overbuilding.

CrowdStrike’s fiscal first-quarter operating cash flow rose 54% to $590.9 million and free cash flow grew nearly 68% to $468.5 million, widening its free-cash-flow margin to 34% from 25%. The firm raised its fiscal 2027 adjusted earnings forecast to $4.88–$4.96 a share, from $4.78–$4.90, and described the Falcon platform’s modular economics that let customers add identity, cloud and other security modules without separate sales and infrastructure builds. Analysts at Morgan Stanley said there remains room for further valuation expansion, and more than 20 brokerages lifted targets after the quarter. The stock trades at about 138 times forward earnings.

Palo Alto Networks generated $871 million of operating cash flow in its fiscal third quarter, up 39% year over year, and adjusted free cash flow rose 57% to $910 million. The trailing 12-month adjusted free-cash-flow margin expanded to 38.5%. Management raised fiscal 2026 adjusted earnings guidance to $3.77–$3.79 a share. BTIG named Palo Alto its “top pick,” and Wells Fargo raised its price target to $420. The company reported that recent acquisitions, including CyberArk and Chronosphere, contributed $388 million of quarterly revenue and that some acquisition-related costs are excluded from adjusted cash-flow figures.

Company filings and analyst notes stated that the higher cash flows provide funds for research and development, supply agreements, acquisitions and share repurchases. Those analyst notes also highlighted risks that could affect future results, including weaker demand for AI infrastructure, declines in memory prices and reduced cybersecurity spending.