Applied Materials downgraded to Underweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley downgraded Applied Materials (AMAT) to Underweight from Equal Weight with a price target of $164, down from $179. Applied Materials’ leading market share in DRAM and trailing-edge logic lead to the company seeing strong growth in 2023 and 2024, but a weaker operating environment for both end-markets in the first half of the year should lead to a correction, the analyst tells investors in a research note. The firm says its downgrade isn’t for substantial downside but as a relative Underweight within group as it thinks it will be hard for the stock to outperform with the company’s end market exposure.