Applied Materials (AMAT) Outpaces Stock Market Gains: What You Should Know
In the latest trading session, Applied Materials (AMAT) closed at $117.06, marking a +1.91% move from the previous day. This change outpaced the S&P 500's 1.61% gain on the day. At the same time, the Dow added 1.45%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.36%.
Prior to today's trading, shares of the maker of chipmaking equipment had lost 14.4% over the past month. This has lagged the Computer and Technology sector's loss of 6.03% and the S&P 500's loss of 1.42% in that time.
Investors will be hoping for strength from Applied Materials as it approaches its next earnings release. In that report, analysts expect Applied Materials to post earnings of $1.89 per share. This would mark year-over-year growth of 15.95%. Our most recent consensus estimate is calling for quarterly revenue of $6.35 billion, up 13.78% from the year-ago period.
For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $8.02 per share and revenue of $26.46 billion, which would represent changes of +17.25% and +14.73%, respectively, from the prior year.
It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for Applied Materials. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.
Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.
The Zacks Rank system ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell). It has a remarkable, outside-audited track record of success, with #1 stocks delivering an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 0.49% lower. Applied Materials currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
Looking at its valuation, Applied Materials is holding a Forward P/E ratio of 14.32. This represents a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 14.81.
We can also see that AMAT currently has a PEG ratio of 1.42. This metric is used similarly to the famous P/E ratio, but the PEG ratio also takes into account the stock's expected earnings growth rate. AMAT's industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.42 as of yesterday's close.
The Semiconductor Equipment - Wafer Fabrication industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 197, putting it in the bottom 23% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our individual industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.
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Applied Materials, Inc. (AMAT) : Free Stock Analysis Report
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