J.P. Morgan Reiterates Overweight Rating on Applied Materials (AMAT)

J.P. Morgan is out with a research report this morning, where it reiterates its Overweight rating on Applied Materials AMAT; it has a $14.00 price target on the stock. The JPM analysts cited the company's recently reported Q3 earnings results, which were better than expected, due to better than expected EES sales, which included $225 million in SunFab signoffs during the quarter. Gross margins were slightly below estimates, at 42.6% versus 43.5%. The analysts noted that AMAT's solar segment continues to gain traction, with overall EES orders up 55% quarter over quarter. As for valuation, the analysts remarked, “Our C10E rev/PF EPS go to $10.3bn/$1.22 vs. $9.9bn/$1.14 previously, while our C11E rev/PF EPS are almost unchanged at $9.4bn/$1.09 vs. $9.4bn/$1.10 previously.”