Company Update (NASDAQ:AMAT): Applied Materials beats estimates as chip demand rises

[Reuters] – Applied Materials Inc, the world’s largest supplier of tools used to make semiconductor chips, forecast a higher-than-expected profit for the third quarter on the back of strong demand for chips used in smartphones and solid-state drives. Shares of the company, which also posted second-quarter earnings above analysts’ expectations, rose 4 percent in after hours trading on Wednesday. Read more on this. Applied Materials, Inc. (AMAT) , with a current value of $22.51B, started the session at $19.80. A quick look at the market, the company’s stock traded between $19.72 and $20.04 and has traded between $14.25 and $21.67 over the past 12 months. Priced at 15.09x this year’s forecasted earnings, AMAT shares are relatively inexpensive compared to the industry’s 22.19x forward p/e ratio. The company pays shareholders $0.40 per share in dividend income per year, for a current yield of 2.02%. In a review of the consensus earnings estimate this quarter, 19 sell-side analysts are looking at $0.32 per share, which would be $0.03 better than the year-ago quarter and a $0.01 sequential increase. Furthermore, our analysis shows the full-year EPS estimate to be $1.32, which would be a $0.13 better when compared to the last year’s annual results. The quarterly earnings estimate is predicated on a consensus revenue forecast of $2.43 Billion. If reported, that would be a 0.41% decrease over the year-ago quarter. Recently, Susquehanna downgraded AMAT from Neutral to Negative (Apr 19, 2016). Previously, UBS upgraded AMAT from Neutral to Buy. With the above information in mind, readers should note that the average price target is $23.25, which is 17.42% above where the stock opened this morning. See more in (NASDAQ:AMAT) Similar Articles: Market Update: Applied Materials Inc (NASDAQ:AMAT) – Applied Materials Surge on Earnings Beat, Guidance (AMAT) Company Update: Applied Materials Inc (NASDAQ:AMAT) – Applied Materials (AMAT) Stock Soars on Earnings Beat, Jim Cramer’s View Stock Update: Applied Materials Inc (NASDAQ:AMAT) – Applied Materials (AMAT) Stock Lower Ahead of Today’s Earnings Report