Applied Materials (AMAT) Stock Moves -0.45%: What You Should Know
In the latest trading session, Applied Materials (AMAT) closed at $50.65, marking a -0.45% move from the previous day. This move traded in line with S&P 500. Elsewhere, the Dow lost 0.36%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.33%.
Heading into today, shares of the maker of chipmaking equipment had gained 1.05% over the past month, lagging the Computer and Technology sector's gain of 1.8% and outpacing the S&P 500's gain of 0.59% in that time.
Investors will be hoping for strength from AMAT as it approaches its next earnings release. In that report, analysts expect AMAT to post earnings of $0.76 per share. This would mark a year-over-year decline of 21.65%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $3.69 billion, down 8.08% from the year-ago period.
Looking at the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates suggest analysts are expecting earnings of $3 per share and revenue of $14.53 billion. These totals would mark changes of -32.58% and -15.8%, respectively, from last year.
Any recent changes to analyst estimates for AMAT should also be noted by investors. Recent revisions tend to reflect the latest 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. We developed the Zacks Rank to capitalize on this phenomenon. Our system takes these estimate changes into account and delivers a clear, actionable rating model.
The Zacks Rank system, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection remained stagnant. AMAT is currently a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
In terms of valuation, AMAT is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 16.98. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 24.32, which means AMAT is trading at a discount to the group.
Meanwhile, AMAT's PEG ratio is currently 3.39. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. The Semiconductor Equipment - Wafer Fabrication industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 2.52 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 191, putting it in the bottom 26% of all 250+ industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank includes is listed in order from best to worst in terms of the average Zacks Rank of the individual companies within each of these sectors. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
You can find more information on all of these metrics, and much more, on Zacks.com.
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Applied Materials, Inc. (AMAT) : Free Stock Analysis Report
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