RBC Capital analyst, Amit Daryanani, reiterated his Sector Perform rating on shares of Applied Materials (NASDAQ: AMAT) and raised his price target to $46 after the company handily beat expectations for results and guidance. AMAT reported Apr-qtr results of $3.55B/$0.79 vs. Street
expectations of $3.51B/$0.75 and the July quarter guidance of $3.60–3.75B/$0.79–0.87 is above consensus of $3.40B/$0.68.

Management said it expects 2017 WFE spend to be up +15% vs. 2016, implying $40B+ spend levels and also provided a positive WFE outlook for 2018. The analyst stated "based on AMAT/LRCX's increasingly positive outlook we think that odds of 2H decline in WFE are rather low and investor concerns around "cycle peak" are not expected to materialize in the near term".

The new PT of from $46 is up considerably from the prior $35.

For an analyst ratings summary and ratings history on Applied Materials click here. For more ratings news on Applied Materials click here.

Shares of Applied Materials closed at $43.91 yesterday.