Applied Materials' fiscal third-quarter earnings exceeded expectations
Applied Materials, Inc (NASDAQ:AMAT) is up 3.8% at $67.54 this morning, following the firm's fiscal third-quarter results of $1.06 per share, and $4.40 billion in revenue -- both of which handily topped analysts' expectations. The semiconductor concern also lifted its current-quarter forecast, citing a bounce in demand.
AMAT's earnings beat has the brokerage bunch's attention. Already, eight analysts have lifted their price targets -- the highest from Susquehanna to $85. This estimate represents a roughly 30% premium to last night's close, and marks a level not yet touched by the equity.
In fact, AMAT's latest attempt to break above the $70 happened just before March's broad-market nosedive. The security's recovery has been quite swift though, with the ascending 40-day keeping minor pullbacks in check. The equity is now just within a chip-shot of its February peak of $69.44, and now boasts a 12-month lead of over 40%.
Circling back, analyst sentiment was already bullish coming into today, though there's still room for another round of upgrades. Of the 17 in coverage, 12 said "buy" or better, while five dubbed AMAT a "hold." Meanwhile, the 12-month consensus price target of $73.72 stood at a 13.3% premium to last night's close.
Options bulls will likely be cheering on AMAT today, too. In the last 10 weeks, 3.34 calls have been picked up for every put at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX). This ratio stand higher than all but 2% of its annual readings, suggesting a much healthier-than-usual appetite for long calls of late.