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Technology Stocks : Applied Materials No-Politics Thread (AMAT) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Cary Salsberg who wrote (9846)	5/19/2004 11:26:50 AM
From: Proud_Infidel	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 25522

Applied Materials "hold," estimates raised Wednesday, May 19, 2004 6:42:07 AM ET WR Hambrecht & Co NEW YORK, May 19 (New Ratings) - Analyst Gerald S Fleming of WR Hambrecht reiterates his "hold" rating on Applied Materials (AMAT.NAS), while raising his estimates for the company. The target price is set to $23. Shares of Applied Materials, a leading global semiconductor capital equipment company, are currently trading at $18.85. According to WR Hambrecht 's research note published this morning, Applied Materials reported its 2Q04 results ahead of the estimates. The company's order growth was significantly ahead of the industry average during the quarter, the analyst says. However, the limited visibility into Applied Materials’ order growth in 4Q is likely to exert pressure on the company’s stock performance in the near term, the analyst adds. According to WR Hambrecht, Applied Materials' earnings growth is likely to decelerate in the forthcoming years from the robust earnings growth witnessed over the past 20 years. Given the large size and significant market share, the company's businesses appear to be maturing, the analyst says. The EPS estimates for 2004 and 2005 have been raised from $0.79 to $0.85 and from $1.18 to $1.22, respectively. The P/E estimates for 2004 and 2005 are 22.1x and 15.5x, respectively. WR Hambrecht reiterates its "hold" rating on Applied Materials.