Applied Materials advances as Wall Street praises strength in trailing edge nodes
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Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) shares gained more than 3% on Friday after it reported stronger-than-expected quarterly results and guidance, resulting in several Wall Street analysts praising the company's strength in mature products. 
Morgan Stanley analyst Joseph Moore, who has an equal-weight rating on Applied Materials (AMAT), said the strength in trailing edge logic, or ICAPS, has been the "story" for the company this year. However, the surge in DRAM spending was surprising, even if Moore believes it may not be sustainable.
"While equipment has generally been better than feared this earnings cycle, Applied has not seen a meaningful decline in quarterly revenue from the peak level, in sharp contrast to peers," Moore wrote in an investor note, referencing Lam Research (LRCX), KLA Corp. (KLAC) and others. 
Lam Research (LRCX) and KLA Corp. (KLAC) also moved higher on back of the report.
Moore, who raised his price target to $139 from $125 after the results, added that while the company underperformed last year due to supply constraints, - making comparisons easier this year - Applied is still executing well, especially in ICAPS, and the company's strong position in China and trailing edge are "major factors."
Applied Materials (AMAT) said that revenue from foundry and logic accounted for 79% of quarterly sales, up from 66% in the year-ago quarter. Revenue from dynamic random access memory and flash accounted for 17% and 4%, respectively, compared to 15% and 19% in the year-ago period.
J.P. Morgan analyst Harlan Sur, who has an overweight rating on Applied Materials, raised his price target after the results, moving to $165 from $145 and said he believes the company will outpace the wafer fab equipment market due to "healthy exposure" in foundry and logic. 
And while memory spending is still going through fits and starts, Sur said the results may indicate that the memory business has "bottomed" ahead of improving trends next year and the company may benefit from new technologies, such as gate-all-around and advanced packaging.
"Overall, we believe Applied is well-positioned to benefit from multiple upcoming technology inflections that should drive outperformance vs [wafer fab equipment market] over the next several years," Sur wrote in an investor note.
Looking ahead, Applied (AMAT) said it expects net sales to be approximately $6.51B, plus or minus $400M in the fourth-quarter, with adjusted earnings between $1.82 and $2.18 per share.
KeyBanc Capital Markets analysts, led by Steve Barger, were a bit more cautious, noting that while the strong guidance is indicative of Applied's (AMAT) strength in ICAPs and China, it could face some near-term issues around memory, particularly NAND.
Several other semiconductor stocks were mixed on Friday following Applied Materials report, as Nvidia (NVDA) lost ground, while others such as AMD (AMD), Intel (INTC) and Texas Instruments (TXN) saw fractional gains.

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