Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) Earns Outperform Rating from Royal Bank Of Canada

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reiterated by equities researchers at Royal Bank Of Canada in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $600.00 price target on the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock. Royal Bank Of Canada’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 33.74% from the company’s current price.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on AMAT. HC Wainwright set a $850.00 price objective on Applied Materials in a report on Monday, June 29th. KeyCorp increased their target price on Applied Materials from $550.00 to $750.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Applied Materials in a research note on Tuesday. Evercore increased their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $515.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Applied Materials from $675.00 to $695.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty have assigned a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $640.20.

Applied Materials Price Performance

Shares of AMAT stock traded down $15.61 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $448.63. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,665,284 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,836,500. 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 firm’s 50-day moving average is $486.82 and its two-hundred day moving average is $484.20. Applied Materials has a 1-year low of $203.40 and a 1-year high of $739.67. The company has a market cap of $356.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.81, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.60.

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

Insider Transactions at Applied Materials

In other news, Director Judy Bruner sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $465.00, for a total transaction of $465,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 25,544 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,877,960. This represents a 3.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Brice Hill sold 7,500 shares of the 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 sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 128,613 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $61,637,780.25. This represents a 5.51% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 9,225 shares of company stock valued at $4,454,181 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Applied Materials

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp raised its position in 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 stake in Applied Materials during the second quarter worth $5,252,863,000. Auto Owners Insurance Co lifted its holdings 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 bought a new position in Applied Materials during the second quarter worth $1,512,287,000. Finally, Amundi raised its position in shares of Applied Materials by 19.0% in the second 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 period. Institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about Applied Materials

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

• Positive Sentiment: Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed its “outperform” rating and assigned a $600 price target. The broader analyst consensus implies roughly 39% upside, supported by improving earnings estimates. Analyst price targets
• Positive Sentiment: Applied Materials highlighted sustained AI-driven wafer-fabrication demand, ambitions to gain more than two percentage points of market share by 2030, eBeam revenue of approximately $2 billion in 2026, and semiconductor-services revenue above $12 billion by 2030. Applied Materials growth outlook
• Positive Sentiment: The $5 billion EPIC research center, partnerships with major chipmakers, and Applied Ventures’ investment in Flexcompute could accelerate chip-development cycles and strengthen Applied’s strategic position in AI semiconductors. EPIC Center announcement
• Neutral Sentiment: The company reportedly delivered its fifth consecutive earnings beat, reinforcing operational execution, but the stock’s premium valuation—around 39 times earnings—leaves less room for disappointing guidance.
• Negative Sentiment: Investors reacted negatively to what was viewed as uncertain 2030 guidance and insufficient detail during Investor Day, overshadowing the company’s long-term growth initiatives. Investor Day guidance reaction
• Negative Sentiment: Semiconductor-equipment shares sold off broadly amid profit-taking and weakness in global technology stocks, adding sector-level pressure to AMAT. Semiconductor equipment sector selloff

About Applied Materials

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.