Semiconductor stock Applied Materials Inc (NASDAQ:AMAT) is up 1.7% to trade at $235.81 at last check, on the heels of an upgrade to "buy" from "neutral" at UBS. The firm also hiked its price target to $285 from $250, citing a "significantly more bullish outlook for wafer fab equipment."
Heading into today, analysts were split toward the equity. Sixteen of the 35 brokerages in coverage carried a tepid "hold" recommendation, leaving ample room for more upgrades in the coming weeks.
AMAT has been an outperformer on the charts, up 44.7% In 2025. The shares did see a brief post-earnings pullback on Nov. 14 before eking out a gain, however, after a dismal full-year revenue outlook overshadowed its fiscal fourth-quarter beat. The 50-day moving average has since moved in as support, too.
Options are looking affordable, per AMAT's Schaeffer's Volatility Index (SVI) of 42%, which ranks in the 24th annual percentile. The equity tends to outperform options traders' volatility estimates, too, as evidenced by its Schaeffer's Volatility Scorecard (SVS) of 93 out of 100.
