For Immediate Release <\/p>\n
Chicago, IL \u2013 May 22, 2026 \u2013 Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: Applied Materials, Inc. AMAT, Shell plc SHEL and KLA Corp. KLAC.<\/p>\n
Here are highlights from Thursday\u2019s Analyst Blog:<\/p>\n
Top Analyst Reports for Applied Materials, Shell and KLA <\/p>\n
The Zacks Research Daily presents the best research output of our analyst team. Today’s Research Daily features new research reports on 16 major stocks, including Applied Materials, Inc., Shell plc and KLA Corp.. These research reports have been hand-picked from the roughly 70 reports published by our analyst team today.<\/p>\n
You can see all of today’s research reports here >>><\/p>\n
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The daily ‘Ahead of Wall Street’ article is a must-read for all investors who would like to be ready for that day’s trading action. The article comes out before the market opens, attempting to make sense of that morning’s economic releases and how they will affect that day’s market action. You can read this article for free on our home page and can actually sign up there to get an email notification as this article comes out each morning.<\/p>\n
You can read today’s AWS here >>> Claims, Starts & Walmart: Busy Pre-Market<\/p>\n
Today’s Featured Research Reports<\/p>\n
Applied Materials’\u00a0shares have outperformed the Zacks Electronics – Semiconductors industry over the past six months (+84.4% vs. +34.1%). The company is benefiting from AI-driven demand that is shifting wafer fabrication equipment spending toward leading-edge foundry-logic, DRAM and advanced packaging, where it holds leading process positions.<\/p>\n
In the second quarter of fiscal 2026, the company delivered record revenue and the highest gross margin in more than two decades, and management sees better multi-quarter visibility as customers share longer-range forecasts. New gate-all-around and packaging products, expanding EPIC collaborations, and a growing services attach rate support value-based pricing and operating leverage.<\/p>\n
Offsetting these positives are high China exposure amid changing export rules, the inherently cyclical nature of capital spending, and intense competition across process steps.<\/p>\n
(You can read the full research report on Applied Materials here >>>)<\/p>\n
Shares of Shell have gained +21.3% over the past six months against the Zacks Oil and Gas – Integrated – International industry’s gain of +33.5%. The company benefits from its integrated energy model, where strength in LNG, trading, refining and downstream operations helped offset commodity volatility and geopolitical disruptions.<\/p>\n
Story continues <\/p>\n
Shell continues to expand its LNG leadership, positioning it to benefit from long-term global gas demand growth. Shell also strengthened its production outlook with Montney assets while maintaining balance sheet flexibility. Operational execution remained solid, supported by high refining utilization, record Brazil output and ongoing cost reductions.<\/p>\n
Rising dividends and aggressive share buybacks also reflect management’s confidence in future cash flows. Considering its resilient earnings base, LNG growth visibility, disciplined capital allocation and improving long-term free cash flow profile, the outperform recommendation is well justified.<\/p>\n
(You can read the full research report on Shell here >>>)<\/p>\n
KLA’s\u00a0shares have outperformed the Zacks Electronics – Miscellaneous Products industry over the past six months (+62.2% vs. +38.8%). The company continues to benefit from AI-driven spending in leading-edge foundry\/logic, high-bandwidth memory and advanced packaging, supporting market share gains in process control and steady services growth that helps anchor cash generation.<\/p>\n
Management expects its advanced packaging portfolio revenue to rise to about $1 billion in 2026 and sees wafer equipment demand strengthening into 2027, with June quarter guidance calling for another step up in revenue. A high free cash flow profile supports ongoing dividends and repurchases, including a higher quarterly dividend and a new $7 billion authorization.<\/p>\n
However, KLAC’s prospects remain balanced for now given export control and tariff uncertainty, customer concentration, and gross margin sensitivity to elevated DRAM-related system costs expected to persist through at least 2026.<\/p>\n
(You can read the full research report on KLA here >>>)<\/p>\n
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Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed\u00a0that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and\u00a0is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https:\/\/www.zacks.com\/performance\u00a0for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.<\/p>\n
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report<\/a><\/p>\n KLA Corporation (KLAC) : Free Stock Analysis Report<\/a><\/p>\n Applied Materials, Inc. (AMAT) : Free Stock Analysis Report<\/a><\/p>\n Shell PLC Unsponsored ADR (SHEL) : Free Stock Analysis Report<\/a><\/p>\n This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).<\/a><\/p>\n