Q3 Preview: Applied Materials (AMAT) Shares Remain Steady Heading into EPS

Shares of Applied Materials Inc. (NYSE: AMAT) are trading relatively flat, down $0.02 to $12.44 in midday market movement on Wednesday ahead of the company's third-quarter earnings release scheduled for after the closing bell.

The nanotechnology solutions provider in the semiconductor space is expected by analysts to report earnings of $0.31 per share on revenue of $2.59 billion.

In the second quarter, Applied Materials reported earnings of $0.29 per share, beating the analyst estimate of $0.25 per share. The company reported second-quarter revenue of $2.52 billion, beating the consensus of $2.37 billion.

Since the start of the third quarter, shares of the company are up $1.04 or 9.09 percent. Year-to-date the stock is down $1.52 or 10.90 percent.

A valuation shows that Applied Materials is going for a forward P/E of 27.60x full year 2010 estimates.

Data from Bloomberg shows that 7 analysts have a Buy rating on the stock, 15 have a Hold and 2 have a Sell. The average analyst price target on Applied Materials is $13 with a target range of $11 to $18.

---

Serious News for Serious Traders! Try StreetInsider.com Premium Free!

---

You May Also Be Interested In

• The tech crown switches hands: Apple dethrones Nvidia as $4 trillion king
• Netflix, Intuitive Surgical tumble premarket
• Cantor Fitzgerald Reiterates Overweight Rating on DBV Technologies S.A (DBVT)