On June 2, Applied Materials rose 3.04% in regular trading, trading at $463.26/share, with trading volume of $1.465 billion.
On the news front, Mizuho recently raised its target price for Applied Materials from $500 to $540, maintaining an Outperform rating. This follows Bernstein's upward revision of global wafer fabrication equipment spending forecast to $148 billion, representing a 21.4% year-over-year increase, with the firm identifying Applied Materials as the top pick among the three major equipment makers due to its highest exposure to advanced logic and DRAM. Wolfe Research, Argus, and other investment banks have also concentrated target price upgrades in recent weeks, reinforcing the bullish consensus.
The upgrades come on the heels of a strong fiscal Q2 earnings report that significantly beat expectations with record revenue and EPS, alongside optimistic guidance projecting semiconductor equipment business growth exceeding 30%. The company also announced a collaboration with SCREEN Semiconductor Solutions to co-develop next-generation chip process technologies at its EPIC Center. Within the Semiconductor Equipment sector, ASML Holding rose 2.02%, KLA-Tencor rose 0.97%, and Lam Research rose 0.78%, reflecting broad sector strength.
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