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Applied Materials (AMAT) Outpaces Stock Market Gains: What You Should Know

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Applied Materials (AMAT - Free Report) closed at $110.06 in the latest trading session, marking a +1.87% move from the prior day. This change outpaced the S&P 500's 1.29% gain on the day. Elsewhere, the Dow gained 0.8%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq added 10.96%.

Heading into today, shares of the maker of chipmaking equipment had lost 3.42% over the past month, lagging the Computer and Technology sector's loss of 2% and the S&P 500's loss of 0.23% in that time.

Wall Street will be looking for positivity from Applied Materials as it approaches its next earnings report date. On that day, Applied Materials is projected to report earnings of $1.93 per share, which would represent year-over-year growth of 2.12%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $6.68 billion, up 6.59% from the year-ago period.

AMAT's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $6.83 per share and revenue of $24.43 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of -11.3% and -5.26%, respectively.

Any recent changes to analyst estimates for Applied Materials should also be noted by investors. These revisions typically reflect the latest short-term business trends, which can change frequently. As a result, we can interpret positive estimate revisions as a good sign for the company's business outlook.

Based on our research, we believe these estimate revisions are directly related to near-team stock moves. To benefit from this, we have developed the Zacks Rank, a proprietary model which takes these estimate changes into account and provides an 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. The Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has moved 0.13% lower within the past month. Applied Materials currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

In terms of valuation, Applied Materials is currently trading at a Forward P/E ratio of 15.81. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 16.65, which means Applied Materials is trading at a discount to the group.

We can also see that AMAT currently has a PEG ratio of 2.3. The PEG ratio is similar to the widely-used P/E ratio, but this metric also takes the company's expected earnings growth rate into account. AMAT's industry had an average PEG ratio of 1.87 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 39, putting it in the top 16% 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.

To follow AMAT in the coming trading sessions, be sure to utilize Zacks.com.


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