11 Stocks on Jim Cramer’s Radar

2. Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Number of Hedge Fund Holdings: 89

Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) is one of the largest semiconductor manufacturing equipment providers in the world. The firm’s shares are up by 78% over the past year and by 19% year-to-date. Mizuho upgraded the firm’s rating to Outperform from Neutral and raised the share price target to $370 from $275. The financial firm pointed out that Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) was among the key beneficiaries of a bump in wafer equipment capital expenditure in the US and worldwide. Two of the world’s largest chip manufacturers, Intel Corporation and Taiwan’s TSMC, are spending aggressively to expand their contract manufacturing capabilities and keep up in the AI race. Along with Mizuho, Deutsche Bank also upgraded Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)’s shares. It bumped the rating to Buy from Hold and raised the share price target to $390 from $275. Cramer discussed the Deutsche upgrade and wondered whether it was too late for optimism:

“Shortage complex, one of the key parts of it is Applied Materials. So a Sandisk, a Seagate, once again, Micron. They very much need, more wafer equipment. Applied Materials upgraded today, Deutsche Bank, Hold to Buy, on a better outlook. This is one of these things where they just keep going. The analysts are trying so badly to catch up to all these companies. I regard these as capitulations, and I think the Deutsche Bank’s a capitulation. But it’s not working today because we’re seeing Intel going down, so people feel maybe there’s a problem with demand. There isn’t. This recommendation will work.”