On September 29, Applied Materials rose 4.01% in pre-market trading, trading at approximately $506.30 per share with turnover of $38.27 million, rebounding sharply from the prior session's roughly 3% pre-market decline.

The rebound was driven by a fresh Morgan Stanley research note that, despite lowering its price target from $642 to $563 and maintaining an Equal-Weight rating, meaningfully raised its fundamental outlook. Based on improved NAND flash memory and gross margin expectations, the bank lifted its fiscal 2027 revenue forecast to $50.7 billion and earnings-per-share estimate to $20.92, projecting gross margins to climb from 48.8% in 2025 to 52% by 2027. The valuation multiple was trimmed from 26x to 22x, still approximately 10% above the average cyclical multiple since 2020, reflecting limited upside to the current stock price but strengthened confidence in the earnings trajectory.

Additionally, the company's CEO recently stated at a Goldman Sachs conference that 2027 will be a landmark year for the firm, citing service revenue growing over 20% annually with margins expanding 180 basis points, reinforcing the bullish fundamental narrative.

Within the Semiconductor Equipment sector, the broader group also traded higher. Among peers, Lam Research rose 3.38%, ASML up 2.23%, KLA Corporation up 2.98%, Teradyne up 2.03%, and AXT Inc up 3.53%.

(The above content is based on publicly available market information, generated by a program or algorithm, and is intended solely as a stock movement alert. It does not constitute investment advice or a basis for trading decisions.)