Goldman Sachs Neutral On Applied Materials After Earnings

Goldman Sachs has a Neutral rating and a $14 price target on shares of Applied Materials AMAT after the company reported earnings. In a note to clients, Goldman writes, "We believe that Applied's disappointing 2QCY11 guidance and commentary about order pushouts from the foundries is evidence that our Cautious view on Semi Equipment is starting to materialize. We continue to expect that the record capex this year from Intel and the foundries will lead to excess supply. As a result, we believe Applied's weak outlook is the start of a multi-quarter downward trend in orders. While orders could spike back up in any one quarter, with foundries still 47% of Applied's order book this quarter and logic (driven by Intel) comprising another 25%, we believe foundry orders have further to fall and logic will need to be cut before we are able to be more constructive on industry fundamentals. We remain Neutral on Applied, as the stock is already trading near our price target, and we believe that other stocks are at greater risk given Applied's cost saving initiatives and non-semi exposure." Shares of AMAT are down 31 cents in pre-market trading to $13.40, a loss of 2.26%.