Argus Research Sees Long-Term Growth Ahead for Applied Materials (AMAT)
Key takeaways
- Argus Research Sees Long-Term Growth Ahead for Applied Materials (AMAT) Vardah Gill Mon, May 25, 2026 at 4:42 AM GMT+7 2 min read AMAT With a 5-year dividend growth rate of 16.24%, Applied Materials, Inc.
- On May 19, Argus Research analyst Jim Kelleher raised the firm’s price recommendation on Applied Materials, Inc.
- On May 18, Morgan Stanley downgraded AMAT to Equal Weight from Overweight and assigned a $502 price target.
Argus Research Sees Long-Term Growth Ahead for Applied Materials (AMAT) Vardah Gill Mon, May 25, 2026 at 4:42 AM GMT+7 2 min read AMAT With a 5-year dividend growth rate of 16.24%, Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) is included among the 10 Best Dividend Growth Stocks to Buy and Hold for 3 Years.
On May 19, Argus Research analyst Jim Kelleher raised the firm’s price recommendation on Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) to $500 from $420. It reiterated a Buy rating following the company’s Q2 earnings beat last week. The analyst said Applied Materials appears well-positioned for long-term growth, supported by cyclical, demographic, and broader industry trends. According to the research note, one of the biggest drivers is the rising demand for large CPU and GPU configurations used to power large language models for generative AI and, more recently, agentic AI. The firm also pointed to the growing push for onshoring semiconductor manufacturing, which is increasingly being viewed as a national security priority.
On May 18, Morgan Stanley downgraded AMAT to Equal Weight from Overweight and assigned a $502 price target. The analyst said the magnitude of the firm’s DRAM wafer fab equipment revisions has narrowed, while its outlook on NAND wafer fab equipment revisions has improved. Morgan Stanley added that it expects Applied Materials to gain market share in 2026. Still, the firm noted that its growth forecast for the company is in line with the broader wafer fab equipment market in 2027. Because of that, Morgan Stanley believes the stock’s valuation discount relative to peers is unlikely to narrow in the near term.