Morgan Stanley raises Applied Materials rating, sees 10% upside

Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Applied Materials , saying it is more confident in the semiconductor wafer fab equipment market and that the company's base case is moving closer to the investment bank's bull case. The chip equipment maker rose more than 1% premarket Monday after Morgan Stanley hiked its investment opinion to overweight from equal weight. Applied Materials has jumped more than 16% year to date, outperforming the S & P 500. "Over the last few weeks memory pricing trends have clearly improved and we believe 2026/2027 memory capex expectations have risk skewed to the upside," Morgan Stanley said in a note. AMAT YTD mountain Applied Materials year to date Morgan Stanley also lifted its 12-month price target on Applied Materials almost 22%, to $209 from $172, implying 10% upsi