Applied Materials (AMAT) closed at $232.53 in the latest trading session, up +0.16% from the previous day. The company’s stock price outperformed the S&P 500, which rose 0.09% on the day, while the Dow rose 0.09% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 0.3%.
Shares of the semiconductor equipment maker have added 5.99% over the past month, lagging the Computer Technology sector’s gain of 6.18% and outpacing the S&P 500’s gain of 3.38%.
Analysts and investors will be closely watching Applied Materials’ performance in its upcoming earnings disclosure. The company is expected to report EPS of $2.01, up 5.79% from the year-ago period. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $6.67 billion, up 3.8% from the year-ago period.
AMAT’s full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $8.31 per share and revenue of $26.89 billion. Those results would represent changes of +3.23% and +1.4%, respectively, from the prior year.
Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for Applied Materials. Such recent changes typically mean a shift in near-term business trend conditions. As such, positive estimate revisions reflect analyst optimism about the company’s business and profitability.
Our research has shown that these estimate changes are directly correlated to near-term stock price movements, and to take advantage of this, we have created the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which incorporates these estimate changes and provides an actionable rating system.
The Zacks Rank system, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has a remarkable, third-party-audited, track record of outperformance, with #1-rated stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 0.07% lower. Currently, Applied Materials has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Looking at valuation, Applied Materials has a Forward P/E ratio of 27.94, which marks it as cheap compared to its industry’s average Forward P/E ratio of 34.21.
Meanwhile, AMAT’s PEG ratio is currently at 3.04. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account a company’s expected earnings growth rate. The average PEG ratio for the Semiconductor Manufacturing Equipment – Wafer Fabrication industry was 3.34 as of yesterday’s market close.
The Semiconductor Equipment – Wafer Fabrication industry belongs to the Computer and Technology sector. This industry is currently ranked 98 in the Zacks Industry Rank, putting it in the top 39% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank is ordered from best to worst based on the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each sector, and our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
Be sure to monitor all of these stock-impacting indicators and more using Zacks.com throughout the upcoming trading sessions.
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Applied Materials (AMAT): Free Stock Analysis Report
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