NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / February 16, 2018 / Shares of Applied Materials closed up higher on Thursday after reporting strong first quarter results. Micron Technology will be reporting its second quarter earnings on March 22 nd and recently upped its forecast.

RDI Initiates Coverage on:

Applied Materials, Inc.
https://rdinvesting.com/news/?ticker=AMAT

Micron Technology, Inc.
https://rdinvesting.com/news/?ticker=MU

Applied Materials' shares closed up 3.91% on Thursday with almost 27 million shares traded. The company reported its first quarter fiscal 2018 results that blew Wall Street away and surpassed on both the top and bottom line. EPS at $1.06 was higher than the $0.98 that analysts had been waiting for. It was also higher than the company's own guided range of 94 cents to $1.02. Earnings saw a 59% increase YOY. Revenue at $4.2 billion was also higher than what analysts had been waiting for by about $100 million. Revenue was also at the higher end of the $4-$4.2 billion the company had forecast. The company also approved a $6 billion share buyback plan and doubled its quarterly cash dividend to 20 cents a share. Looking ahead the company has forecast for its second quarter earnings revenue in the range of $4.35 to $4.55 billion and EPS in the range of $1.10 to $1.18. Analysts were waiting for EPS of $1.02 and revenue of $4.24 billion. Patrick Ho of Stifel has upped his price target from $66 to $71 and reiterated a "buy" rating on the stock.

Access RDI's Applied Materials, Inc. Research Report at:
https://rdinvesting.com/news/?ticker=AMAT

Micron Technology' shares closed up a modest 0.12% on Thursday with around 35 million shares traded. It was earlier this month that Micron lifted its guidance for the second quarter and an analyst with Keybanc Capital Markets said the stock was "too inexpensive to ignore." According to analyst Weston Twigg, who upgraded Micron Technology's stock rating from "sector weight" to "overweight", the company's upgrade in forecast, "signals that long-term demand trends will remain mostly positive for at least the next two years." The analyst has a $53 price target on the stock. Micron announced that it now expects EPS of $2.70 to $2.75 and revenue of $7.2 to $7.35 billion. Previously the company had forecast EPS of $2.51 to $2.65 and revenue of $6.8 to $7.2 billion. The industry leader in innovative memory and storage solutions will be reporting its second quarter earnings on March 22nd.

Access RDI's Micron Technology, Inc. Research Report at:
https://rdinvesting.com/news/?ticker=MU

Our Actionable Research on Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAT) and Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) be downloaded free of charge at Research Driven Investing.

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