Needham & Company LLC Has Lowered Expectations for Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) Stock Price

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) had its price target cut by equities research analysts at Needham & Company LLC from $740.00 to $580.00 in a report issued on Friday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s target price indicates a potential upside of 34.88% from the stock’s current price.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Applied Materials from $645.00 to $670.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 14th. New Street Research reduced their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $580.00 to $525.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $515.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 14th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Applied Materials from $642.00 to $563.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, September 28th. Finally, Erste Group Bank lowered shares of Applied Materials from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty have issued a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $632.70.

Applied Materials Price Performance

Shares of AMAT opened at $430.01 on Friday. Applied Materials has a 52-week low of $203.40 and a 52-week high of $739.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 1.79 and a current ratio of 2.42. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $483.12 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $485.62. The firm has a market cap of $341.26 billion, a PE ratio of 37.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.60.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 13th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $3.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.40 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $9.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.99 billion. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 38.02% and a net margin of 30.05%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.48 EPS. Applied Materials has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 3.820-4.220 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Applied Materials will post 12.79 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Applied Materials news, CAO Adam Sanders sold 725 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $544.56, for a total transaction of $394,806.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 3,181 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,732,245.36. The trade was a 18.56% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, CFO Brice Hill sold 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $479.25, for a total transaction of $3,594,375.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 128,613 shares in the company, valued at approximately $61,637,780.25. The trade was a 5.51% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 9,225 shares of company stock worth $4,454,181 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Applied Materials by 85.4% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 69,525,842 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $50,267,184,000 after acquiring an additional 32,018,892 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new position in Applied Materials in the 2nd quarter valued at about $5,252,863,000. Auto Owners Insurance Co boosted its stake in Applied Materials by 25,824.4% during the 4th quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 3,370,167 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $86,610,000 after purchasing an additional 3,357,167 shares during the last quarter. Jupiter Topco LLC acquired a new position in Applied Materials during the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,512,287,000. Finally, Amundi boosted its stake in Applied Materials by 19.0% during the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 7,808,207 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $5,645,344,000 after purchasing an additional 1,246,876 shares during the last quarter. 80.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Applied Materials News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Applied Materials this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Applied Materials opened its $5 billion EPIC Center in Sunnyvale, California. The facility is described as the world’s largest semiconductor equipment and process-technology research and development center, potentially strengthening the company’s innovation pipeline and customer relationships. Applied Materials opens $5B semiconductor innovation center
• Positive Sentiment: Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed its “Outperform” rating and set a $600 price target, while other coverage points to roughly 39% potential upside. Analysts also cited positive earnings-estimate revisions and strong semiconductor demand. Wall Street Analysts Think Applied Materials Could Surge
• Positive Sentiment: RBC characterized Applied Materials’ 2030 margin targets as conservative relative to demand trends, supporting the view that long-term profitability could improve. The company’s latest reported quarter also included revenue growth of 24.8% and an EPS beat.
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent articles compare AMAT favorably with ASML and Broadcom, highlighting its broad wafer-fabrication equipment portfolio and exposure to semiconductor capacity expansion. These are longer-term positioning arguments rather than new financial catalysts. ASML vs. Applied Materials
• Neutral Sentiment: Applied Materials was identified as a growth-at-a-reasonable-price stock, and 31 exchange-traded funds added exposure on October 13. These signals may provide support but do not establish a near-term earnings catalyst.
• Negative Sentiment: The stock declined more than the broader market in the latest reported session and has dropped sharply over the past several weeks. Coverage suggests investors remain concerned about the timing of the semiconductor-equipment sales recovery, even though historical pullbacks have sometimes been followed by rebounds.
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst opinion is mixed, and the EPIC Center announcement did not prevent further selling. With AMAT trading well below its recent highs and valuation still elevated at about 37 times earnings, investors appear to be discounting execution and cyclical risks.

Applied Materials Company Profile

Applied Materials, Inc is a global supplier of equipment, services and software used to manufacture semiconductor chips, flat-panel displays and other advanced electronic products. Its technologies help customers build and enhance materials at the nanoscale, supporting processes such as deposition, etching, inspection, metrology and packaging.

The company’s offerings include semiconductor manufacturing systems, process-control and inspection equipment, and services designed to improve the performance, productivity and longevity of production equipment.