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Applied Materials ( AMAT ) could surf the “rising tide” of 3D Nand, but rival Lam Research ( LRCX ) will likely outgrow the No. 2 chip-gear-maker, a Needham analyst said Wednesday ahead of Applied Materials’ Q2 earnings report, due after the close Thursday. In afternoon trading on the stock market today , Applied Materials stock was up 2%, near 20, leading soon-to-merge rivals Lam and KLA-Tencor ( KLAC ), whose shares were up 1.8% and 1%, respectively. The three trail ASML ( ASML ) in terms of market value. ASML stock was up 1% Wednesday afternoon. For its fiscal Q2 ended in late April, Applied Materials is expected to report $2.43 billion in sales and 32 cents earnings per share minus items, flat and up 10%, respectively, on a year-over-year basis. That would come off 4% declines for both metrics in Q1. Three months ago, Applied Materials guided to a 5%-10% sequential jump in sales ($2.37 billion to $2.48 billion) and 30-34 cents EPS ex items. Needham analyst Y. Edwin Mok reiterated his buy rating and 22 price target on Applied Materials stock. Mok and Credit Suisse analyst Farhan Ahmad both expect Applied Materials to report an in-line Q2. But Mok sees potential upside to Applied Materials’ Q3 guidance on strength in 3D Nand flash memory demand. Lam recently guided to 9% quarter-over-quarter shipment growth for Q2. Mok expects Applied Materials to “grow similarly, although likely at a slower pace than Lam.” He sees Applied Materials guiding to 2%-7% sequential growth for Q3 vs. consensus of 22 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters, which models 3% quarter-over-quarter sales growth. Ahmad, on the other hand, expects in-line Q3 guidance. For the second half of the year, display revenue could be guided up 10%-20% vs. last year’s flat quarter, but DRAM (dynamic random-access memory) guidance could disappoint. “DRAM second-half revenues could be ticked down to flat (vs. the prior period),” he wrote in a research report. “Expectations are relatively high. Most investors expect a beat than a miss,” but DRAM has been macroeconomically slogged for several years on slowing PC sales. He kept his outperform rating and 23 price target. Scalper1 News
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