What Happened?

Shares of semiconductor machinery manufacturer Applied Materials (NASDAQ: AMAT) jumped 4.4% in the afternoon session after several investment firms expressed a positive outlook for the company, with KeyBanc and Morgan Stanley raising their price targets and UBS upgrading the stock's rating. KeyBanc increased its price target to $285 from $240, keeping an Overweight rating. The firm noted long-term demand drivers from artificial intelligence applications. In a similar move, UBS upgraded Applied Materials from Neutral to Buy and also set a $285 price target, citing a good outlook for wafer fab equipment, which is used to produce memory chips. Adding to the positive sentiment, Morgan Stanley adjusted its price target upward to $273 from $252, while also maintaining an Overweight rating on the shares.

The shares closed the day at $265.33, up 4.2% from previous close.

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What Is The Market Telling Us

Applied Materials’s shares are quite volatile and have had 17 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.

The previous big move we wrote about was 8 days ago when the stock gained 3.4% on the news that renewed enthusiasm for Alphabet reinvigorated the artificial intelligence trade, propelling a market rebound heading into the Thanksgiving holiday. The Nasdaq index jumped 2.6% and the S&P 500 gained 1.6%, driven by a 5% rally in Alphabet following the announcement of its upgraded Gemini 3 AI model. This optimism spilled over into the broader tech sector, lifting shares of Broadcom, Micron, and Palantir significantly. The rally built on momentum from the previous trading session, sparked by the New York Fed president keeping the door open for a December interest rate cut.

Applied Materials is up 62.1% since the beginning of the year, and at $265.72 per share, has set a new 52-week high. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Applied Materials’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $3,115.

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