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Applied Materials (AMAT) Dips More Than Broader Markets: What You Should Know

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Applied Materials (AMAT - Free Report) closed at $86.30 in the latest trading session, marking a -1.66% move from the prior day. This move lagged the S&P 500's daily loss of 1.06%. At the same time, the Dow lost 0.46%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.14%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the maker of chipmaking equipment had lost 1.64% over the past month. This has lagged the Computer and Technology sector's loss of 1.1% and the S&P 500's gain of 4.94% 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 $1.73 per share. This would mark a year-over-year decline of 10.82%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $6.4 billion, up 4.48% from the year-ago period.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for Applied Materials should also be noted by investors. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. 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, 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. Over the past month, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 14.19% lower. Applied Materials is holding a Zacks Rank of #5 (Strong Sell) right now.

Digging into valuation, Applied Materials currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 13.03. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 13.71, which means Applied Materials is trading at a discount to the group.

Investors should also note that AMAT has a PEG ratio of 2.63 right now. 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. Semiconductor Equipment - Wafer Fabrication stocks are, on average, holding a PEG ratio of 1.59 based on yesterday's closing prices.

The Semiconductor Equipment - Wafer Fabrication industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This industry currently has a Zacks Industry Rank of 231, which puts it in the bottom 9% 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.

Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.


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