Yahoo Finance Applied Materials (AMAT) Stock Moves -0.28%: What You Should Know
Applied Materials (AMAT) closed at $110.31 in the latest trading session, marking a -0.28% move from the prior day. This change was narrower than the S&P 500's daily loss of 0.38%. Elsewhere, the Dow lost 0.68%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 10.47%.
Prior to today's trading, shares of the maker of chipmaking equipment had lost 4.97% over the past month. This has lagged the Computer and Technology sector's loss of 1.96% and the S&P 500's gain of 2.61% in that time.
Investors will be hoping for strength from Applied Materials as it approaches its next earnings release. The company is expected to report EPS of $1.84, down 0.54% from the prior-year quarter. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $6.4 billion, up 2.42% from the year-ago period.
AMAT's full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates are calling for earnings of $7.01 per share and revenue of $24.56 billion. These results would represent year-over-year changes of -8.96% and -4.76%, respectively.
Investors might also notice 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.
Our research shows that these estimate changes are directly correlated with near-term stock prices. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.
Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection remained stagnant. Applied Materials is holding a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold) right now.
Investors should also note Applied Materials's current valuation metrics, including its Forward P/E ratio of 15.78. This represents a discount compared to its industry's average Forward P/E of 17.14.
Also, we should mention that AMAT has a PEG ratio of 2.82. 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 was holding an average PEG ratio of 2.82 at yesterday's closing price.
The Semiconductor Equipment - Wafer Fabrication industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 186, putting it in the bottom 27% 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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Applied Materials, Inc. (AMAT) : Free Stock Analysis Report
