10 AI News You Probably Missed

3. Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 74

Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) provides manufacturing equipment, services, and software for the semiconductor, display, and related industries. On January 17, KeyBanc upgraded Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) to Overweight with a $225 price target, highlighting its strong market position in advanced technologies supporting AI growth, chip efficiency, and advanced packaging.

While traditional markets like mobile, PC, and server haven’t fully recovered, improvements in these areas and the ICAPS segment, driven by automotive and industrial demand, could boost revenue and earnings. The firm noted AMAT’s 27% stock decline since July 2024 has made its valuation more attractive, though the positive outlook relies on expected market recovery. The analyst noted:

“In terms of where we could be wrong, should the cycle turn down it would suggest further share price downside, but we also think a significant cycle deceleration from here would likely only occur in a recession, which we don’t currently see.”