Jabil Circuit Up, Analysts Remain Uncertain

Jabil Circuit, Inc. JBL was up about 3.6 percent on Thursday, December 18's trading, following a strong earnings report that beat analyst expectations for the first quarter. In addition, the company offered an outlook that also surpassed Wall Street projections comfortably.

Related Link: Jabil Circuit Jumps On Q1 Beat, Strong Outlook As reported in a previous article, Sherri Scribner of Deutsche Bank felt encouraged by the results, and raised the firm’s price target for the stock from $20 to $22, but still maintained its Hold rating. The price target results from a 13x multiple on $1.69 per share earnings for fiscal 2015.

Applied Materials, Inc. AMAT

In contrast, many analysts seem to like Applied Materials as an option within the tech sector. Citigroup reiterated its Buy rating on December 18, setting a price target of $36. In the previous week, Stifel Nicolaus also reiterate its Buy rating, accompanied by a $29 price target, and upgraded the stock from a Hold to a Buy, fixing a $30 price target. Stifel Nicolaus has verbalized its expectation that the company will “benefit from multiple technology inflections in the next two to three years, which could drive WFE spending to $36-37 billion.”

Unlike Deutsche Bank, Citigroup seems bearish on Jabil Circuit, and reiterated its Sell recommendation on December 18. However, the firm boosted its price target for the stock from $17 to $19.

Analysts are not decidedly bullish on the $3.95 billion market cap electronic manufacturing services and solutions provider, even in spite of its strong results.