Shares of Applied Materials Inc (NASDAQ:AMAT) are up 2.8% to trade at $195.48 at last check, after Morgan Stanley Securities upgraded the stock to "overweight" and raised its price target to $209. The firm cited a stronger outlook for semiconductor wafer fab equipment through the rest of the year as a reason to be excited for the stock.
The stock is currently on track for its sixth-straight daily win, trading at its highest levels since July after a third-quarter earnings fiasco temporarily knocked it off course. Ahead of its final quarterly report of the fiscal year, the equity is riding on five consecutive weekly gains. As AMAT inches closer to the $200 level, support from the 80-day moving average could help prevent a pullback. Year to date, the equity is up 20.5%.
Coming into today, analysts were mixed on the stock: of the 35 firms in coverage, 19 rated it a "buy" or better, while the rest sat at "hold" or worse.
While the stock's 50-day put/call ratio of 1.20 across the International Securities (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) sits in the 83rd percentile of the past year, its 10-day call/put ratio of 2.10 sits even higher, in the 91st percentile, showing puts being picked up at a quicker-than-usual clip.
Options traders are taking today's bull note and running with it, however, with 12,000 calls traded so far -- twice the average volume -- compared to just 5,485 puts. The weekly 9/26 200-strike call is the most popular contract, though new positions are also opening at the 195-strike call in the same series.
