Stock Update: Applied Materials Inc (NASDAQ:AMAT) – Applied Materials (AMAT) Stock Lower Ahead of Today’s Earnings Report

[at TheStreet] – Applied Materials (AMAT) stock is declining before the company’s fiscal 2016 first quarter financial report, due out after today’s market close. Read more on this. Applied Materials, Inc. (AMAT) , with a current value of $19.54B, started trading this morning at $17.17. Looking at today’s market, AMAT one day range is $17.03 to $17.20 with a trailing 52-week range being $14.25 to $25.64. AMAT shares are currently priced at 14.05x this year’s forecasted earnings, which makes them relatively expensive compared to the industry ’s 11.42x forward p/e ratio. The company pays shareholders $0.40 per share annually in dividends, yielding 2.49%. According to a consensus of 19 analysts, the earnings estimate of $0.25 per share would be $0.02 worse than the year-ago quarter and a $0.00 sequential decrease. Furthermore, our analysis shows the full-year EPS estimate to be $1.22, which would be a $0.03 improvement when compared to the last year’s annual results. The quarterly earnings estimate is based on a consensus revenue forecast of the current quarter of $2.24 Billion. If realized, that would be a 5.08% decrease over the year-ago quarter. Recently, Credit Agricole upgraded AMAT from Outperform to Buy (Jan 19, 2016). Previously, Nomura upgraded AMAT from Neutral to Buy. With the above information in mind, readers should note that the average price target is $21.60, which is 25.80% above where the stock opened this morning. See more in (NASDAQ:AMAT) Similar Articles: Company Update (NASDAQ:AMAT): Applied Materials (AMAT) Stock Hurt by Intel’s Earnings Results Stock Update: Applied Materials Inc (NASDAQ:AMAT) – Applied Materials Appoints Adrianna Ma to Board of Directors Stock Update: Applied Materials Inc (NASDAQ:AMAT) – Applied Materials Inc. — Moody’s assigns A3 to Applied Materials’ proposed snr unsec debt; outlook stable