Stifel Nicolaus Maintains Buy, PT of $14 on Applied Materials

Stifel Nicolaus reiterates its Buy rating and price target of $14 per share on Applied Materials, Inc.

and reduces estimates as FPD and Solar headwinds offset tailwind of Semi Cap recovery. According to Stifel, “Applied Materials reported 4Q11 (Oct) earnings results of $2.18 billion in revenue and pro forma EPS of $0.23, excluding options ($0.21, including), slightly above our estimates of $2.16 billion and $0.22, ($0.19, including), respectively. … we believe Applied Materials is experiencing significant pressure in both its FPD and solar (

) business segments. Both markets are under pressures for their own respective reasons (FPD due to slow large TV sales growth and solar due to overcapacity and subsidy cutbacks), but these are weighing on Applied's corporate business model.” AMAT closed at $12.47 per share on Wednesday.