BUSINESS

As Russia targets Ukraine’s cultural and educational institutions, Ukrainian art and culture continue to reach audiences worldwide, from Kyiv to New York and beyond.

After a summer of record-breaking contracts, Forbes ranks the highest-paid NHL players. See how much stars like Connor McDavid are making in salary and in endorsements.

If you are an experienced investor or analyst, or good at what you do in investing or finance, I’m sure you will agree with this.

It is a pattern in semiconductor equipment investing where stocks tend to run ahead of the fundamentals, then wait for the fundamentals to catch up. Applied Materials is living that pattern right now, too.

On Sept. 28, Morgan Stanley cut its price target on Applied Materials (AMAT) to $563 from $642, according to a note shared with me at TheStreet. 

The chip equipment maker trades around $484, which means even after the cut, the target still implies 33% upside. 

Morgan Stanley is not bearish on the business. The rating stays Equal-weight. The business is making a specific argument about valuation relative to other opportunities in the sector.

Looking at performance, AMAT is up 89% year-to-date and 139% over the past year, according to Yahoo Finance.

Also Read: Applied Materials Inc. (AMAT) Latest News and Updates 

What Morgan Stanley said about AMAT, and what the valuation cut means

The mechanics of Morgan Stanley’s move are worth understanding carefully because they tell you something precise.

The firm raised its 2027 revenue forecast for Applied Materials to $50.7 billion and its 2027 EPS forecast to $20.92, driven by higher NAND demand and improved gross margin assumptions. 

The fundamentals went up. The price target went down. The reason? Morgan Stanley lowered the valuation multiple it applies to those improved estimates, cutting it from 26x to 22x.

More AMAT:

Bank of America makes bold chip call after AI sell-off

Applied Materials’ stock buybacks: History & investor impact explained

Applied Materials’ dividends: History, yield & payout ratio explained

The new 22x multiple sits approximately 10% above Applied Materials’ average through-cycle multiple of 20x since 2020, according to Morgan Stanley’s note. The firm is still granting a premium, but a smaller one than before.

“The market is giving AMAT the benefit of the doubt, and we agree with that assessment,” the analysts wrote. “However, we prefer names where expectations are less reflected in the multiple.”

That last sentence is the entire thesis. The business is good, and the stock already knows it.

The record quarter that makes the valuation debate possible

Applied Materials just reported its fiscal third-quarter 2026 results in August, and the numbers help to explain why the stock has run this hard.

Record revenue of $9.12 billion grew 25% year over year (YOY)

Non-GAAP EPS of $3.50 grew 41% YOY, also a record

Non-GAAP gross margin reached 50.4%, representing the company’s 13th consecutive quarter of YOY gross margin expansion

Cash from operations was a record $3.04 billion

Distributed $860 million to shareholders through buybacks and dividends in a single quarterSource: Applied Materials Third-Quarter 2026 Results

For Q4, Applied Materials guided $10.25 billion in revenue at the midpoint. Non-GAAP EPS guidance of $4.02 at the midpoint continues the acceleration.

CEO Gary Dickerson said Applied Materials would “grow faster than the market this year” and expressed confidence in “another strong growth year in 2027.” CFO Brice Hill added that customer conversations around capacity and deployment provide visibility extending toward 2030.

Morgan Stanley’s scenario analysis adds texture to those numbers. If Applied Materials reaches approximately $14 billion in quarterly system shipments by mid-2028, consistent with its stated plan to double quarterly system output from current levels, that could imply revenue of approximately $68 billion and EPS of approximately $31.70, according to the firm’s estimates.

AMAT is up 89% year-to-date and 139% over the past year.Shutterstock

AMAT’s gross margin question shapes the long-term bull case

Morgan Stanley made one specific call that you should note. The firm said it would be “surprised” if Applied Materials outlined a path to gross margins materially above the mid-50% range.

The company’s current non-GAAP gross margin is 50.4%, while Morgan Stanley expects it to reach 52% by 2027. The gap to the “mid-50s” may look small, but reaching the high end would meaningfully change how investors model its long-term earnings power.

AMAT has been building out its manufacturing capacity aggressively — the new $500 million Singapore Tampines Campus more than doubles its advanced cleanroom capacity in the region.

Aggressive hiring and manufacturing investments are creating near-term margin headwinds that the company explicitly flagged for Q4. The 50.4% gross margin guidance for Q4 is flat sequentially because of those ramp costs.

The 11 EPIC Center R&D partnerships, including new additions with Broadcom and UC Berkeley, represent the longer-term margin opportunity.

If Applied Materials can move further up the value chain from equipment supply into co-developed chipmaking solutions, the margin ceiling rises.

Morgan Stanley says the current multiple already prices that optimistic scenario. That is a fair observation about a stock up 139% in a year. The question is whether the demand cycle extending toward 2030 gives the fundamentals enough runway to grow into the valuation.

Related: Why Citi is still backing Applied Materials after the rally

Your day-ahead look for Sept. 29, 2026

Dr. Li Li of Georgia Southern University explains “movement span,” the often-overlooked third dimension of longevity alongside lifespan and healthspan. He discusses how strength, balance, mobility and regular activity can help reduce fall risk, preserve independence and improve quality of life as we age. Learn why movement should be treated as a lifelong priority rather than something addressed only after physical limitations appear.

Transcript:

Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network

Well, Dr. Li, it’s a pleasure to see you. Thanks for joining us on the program this morning.

Li Li, PhD., Georgia Southern University

Hey, Jeff, it’s good to see you.

It’s great to see you, and I’m so excited to talk to you about this because so much of the research these days in terms of aging and longevity, excuse me, is focused on our lifespan and our healthspan. But you actually, through your research and writing, have taken it a step further.

There’s another dimension. Tell us your perspective.

Li Li, PhD., Georgia Southern University

Well, I’ve been researching biomechanics, mobility, posture control for a long time. And then we’ve been promoting physical activity for the benefit of wellness, fitness. And then what I find is when people study for looking at lifespan and healthspan, and then they’re missing a pretty important component is how well we move around within our environment.

So with that as a background, I have just two months ago, I think, published a paper, opinion paper, to suggest we’re looking into this concept I call it movement span. And the movement span, what I put together as of now is how well you move, how well you interact with the environment, and then how do you react to any kind of sudden perturbation thrown your way. So I think our adaptation and reactive to the environment, to any kind of event happen around us, is important indication for our health.

And then, so the phrase movement span have two different dimensions. One is in space, how well we move around in space. And then the other one is how long we have the capacity moving within the space.

Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network

Yeah, I mean, it just, it makes sense to me. It’s very logical as a person who is not a scientist or someone who studies longevity. It would seem to me, and I wanna get your reaction to this, that as we age, for whatever reason, a lot of, I’m sitting in a chair right now, you’re sitting down, we tend to lose some of our suppleness and our flexibility, but we can take steps, doctor, to alter that, right?

I mean, that is not a foregone conclusion here.

Li Li, PhD., Georgia Southern University

Well, we, I’m a fellow of American College Sports Medicine. 20 years ago, we have a slogan, I like it, and then they changed it, I don’t know why. That slogan is called, we can’t add years to your life, but we can add life to your years.

So to address your question is, as we’re getting older, we can actively intervene people’s behavior to make sure your function degeneration, we all get old, we all degenerates, but we try to make sure that the degeneration curve is flattened, means you don’t degenerate too much compared to, for most people, naturally after you degenerates in a very steep slope, right? So we’re looking at this and this. So to flatten the degeneration slope.

Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network

So let’s talk about that a little bit. I know that’s kind of a little bit different than what you were talking about in terms of adding this third dimension, and I agree, I think it’s very important to add this to our research, but in terms of maintaining that flexibility and that ability and to smooth that curve out or to flatten that curve, what can we do? I mean, are there certain exercises or things, for example, should we all be going out and walking?

Do I need to lift weights every day? Do I need to all the above? Go ahead, sorry, doctor.

Li Li, PhD., Georgia Southern University

No, no, I’m sorry. Principle wise, we all need to move more, physical activity, I mean, physically move. If you can stand up, that’s a good start.

If you can take your step, it’s even better, right? Beyond that, we get this question all the time, say, what kind of exercise, what kind of physical activity is best? Well, my answer, our answer is always the physical activity, the exercise, you can participate for long run, that’s the best, right?

If you like swim, go swim. Like bike, go bike. You like dance, go dance, right?

And if you like run, go run. You like to go to weight room, go to weight room. Whatever you like to do, just do something, it’s much better than doing nothing.

On top of that, the Marin College of Sports Medicine right now, the recommendation is you do aerobic activity for about 150 minutes a week, which means brisk walking, slow jogging, cycling, swimming, right? And then do two sections of strength training, go to weight room, or use your own body weight, push-ups, pull-ups, two sessions, each of them 30 minutes a week, right? So that’s the standard recommendation that can be adapted to everybody to their own personal situation and your own environment.

And the bottom line is get moving.

Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network

Yeah, I mean, it makes sense. I’ve always heard the adage, if you don’t use it, you’re going to lose it, or you’ll at least lose that muscle tone, excuse me. Let me ask you about, you mentioned you can use body weight.

So it sounds like push-ups, dips, pull-ups, squats, lunges, maybe abs or planking, those are basic exercises anybody can do, doctor, with the exception of pull-up, you can’t do that everywhere, but you can do everything else, right? You can do everything else. You can do a pull-up on a chair, I guess.

Li Li, PhD., Georgia Southern University

Well, I got a pull-up bar in my house. You can buy one at 45 bucks, and it’s in your doorframe.

Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network

Oh, that’s true. So the point is that these are all things that anybody can do, and you’re not going to be training for the Olympics, right? You don’t have to exhaust yourself.

You’re not trying to put on muscle per se, but maybe maintain the muscle that you do have, doctor?

Li Li, PhD., Georgia Southern University

Well, I think you will have to have another session talking about muscle. Okay. And the brief answer is muscle is important.

Muscle is not only the organ for strength, the organ to help us to move. Muscle actually is our largest metabolic organ, help us consume blood sugar to actually maintain our body weight. And then, so muscle is important, yes.

Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network

Okay, so muscle is important. You need muscle. Let’s talk a little bit, again, this is maybe outside of our topic, but the importance of moving, getting moving and doing whatever is comfortable for you as an individual, but also diet.

How much does diet play that as important a role as exercise itself? Oh, yes.

Li Li, PhD., Georgia Southern University

Oh, yes, right. So now you kind of changed the topic a little bit. Yeah, I did.

I did, sorry. So no, no, no. It’s important to put every, those concepts we’re talking about into a larger framework.

You know, exactly what we’re talking about. Right now, we’re talking about longevity. We’re talking about healthy aging, right?

And if you talk about healthy aging, the research shows diet and physical activity are all important. Also along with your psychological health, your social connections, all that, right? So diet is very important piece of it.

And then speaking of diet right now, I would suggest everybody looking at FDA’s diet recommendation. FDA, the federal government publish recommendations every year. Actually, it’s very, very simple.

It’s not that complicated. You know, it’s a lot simpler than all the fashionable diet out there, keto, you know, all that. It’s actually very simple.

Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network

Good recommendation. So I apologize for skewing a little bit off topic. Let me go back on topic because movement span, you actually came up with an assessment.

So let’s go back to how do we assess or how do practitioners or individuals assess their movement span?

Li Li, PhD., Georgia Southern University

Well, in that paper, as the paper was published and I was just trying to organize my thought around this idea, the measurement part is not a very complete picture. And in there, what I have suggested, walking speed is important and walking speed in different environment is important. And then there is a measurement people have talked about a lot.

It’s what we call timed up and go. Essentially, you sit in the chair, the arm chair, and somebody measure how long it takes for you to finish a task. You sit in the chair and they said, one, two, three, go, they start the stopwatch.

And then you get up, you walk about three yards and you turn around, you come back, you sit down, right? And so that have a, your reaction to the command go and getting up, change your body posture and you walk and you turn around around the end point. So that have a few different components testing your strength, your gait variability, posture stability, how well you can turn around and sit down, right?

So that’s a multi-component test. A long time ago, somebody did a population-wide study just for the timed up and go. It says 13.5 seconds. It’s a very important threshold. If you cannot finish the task within 13.5 seconds, you might want to check out.

Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network

Okay, and that could be, you could have physical decline and you could probably also have some kind of cognitive decline, right? It’s all part together. One other thing, I was reading the piece, balance.

Let’s talk a little bit about balance because the old adage is that as you get older, you might fall down, you might lose your balance, you could have vertigo. But if you fall, that can be ultimately, can be deadly for older Americans. Well, not as Americans.

Li Li, PhD., Georgia Southern University

Well, yeah, but I mean, yeah, most people watching the show are American. It can be deadly for older people and especially for people in the older spectrum of the population we’re talking about. And there are statistics out there.

If you’re in the older population, a lot of times if you fall, break your hip and your one-year survival rates have plummets for about 50%. Right? And we all know as older people, not only when you fall, you break your hip, that hurts and you heal really, really slow.

And then if your hip doesn’t heal, you’ll be bedridden for a long time. And bedridden, it’s a recipe for a lot of different infections, different problems. And then, so the problem just start adding on compound itself.

And so, yeah, so balance and professional, we call that posture control, right? So how well you can control your posture, that is important.

Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network

I wanna end on kind of the next steps with regards to your thought process. You said you were kind of trying to get the thoughts down on paper. I think movement span certainly is important based on what you and I are discussing and what I read.

What’s kind of the next step to getting practitioners to adopt some kind of assessment for their patients or for, you know, if someone’s going to physical therapy or someone’s going to see their regular primary care physician, what’s the next step in your research, doctor?

Li Li, PhD., Georgia Southern University

Well, exactly what you said, trying to get people some executable measurements so we can actually measure it and we can measure in a population scale. And the time up and go, I said it’s good, but it does not fully reflect the our negotiations with the environment, does not fully reflect our reaction to something happens suddenly. For example, you go out, walk your dog and you hold a leash and a dog saw a squirrel and start getting off, pull at you, right?

Can you actually hold a dog, right? So that’s a reactive behavior. Can you actually hold a dog?

And then that is not just theoretical, I actually see people fall when the dog- Of all ages, of all ages too, doctor. They can be young, they can be mature. Exactly, just took off, right?

So can you react to those kinds of sudden event? So we’re right now working with different people, different practitioners trying to see, can we come up a comprehensive test that’s easy to execute within clinic and then trying to see, can we get a test which acceptable for the patient population and also the healthcare workforce?

Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement Network

Yeah, well, maybe you’ll call that the Li Movement Span Test. I don’t know, I’m just trying to give you ideas. You can copyright it, put it on YouTube.

I’ll report back and if I find that one. Yeah, Dr. Li, thank you so much for making a few minutes. It’s a great piece, these are the types of things that we like to cover on the network.

It really shows that we’re doing a lot, we as a society and other societies are doing a lot to improve the aging of so many people. Thanks for joining us and we look forward to having you back on the program again very soon, sir.

Li Li, PhD., Georgia Southern University

Sounds good, thank you, Jeff.

The Manchester City case does not establish that state-linked ownership is inherently improper, but it does raise some serious questions.

Edible enlightenment from our eatery experts and colleagues Monie Begley, Richard Nalley, Sherry Phillips and Moira Forbes, as well as brothers Bob, Kip and Tim.

The excitement around space exploration company SpaceX leading into its initial public offering was only matched by the disappointment that happened shortly after its debut.

After rocketing up to a post-IPO high of $225.64 days after its debut. SpaceX (SPCX) dropped as low as $113 per share on July 27; after a brief spike in early August, the stock retested those lows the following session.

While shares closed trading Monday, Sept. 28, down 2.16% to $145.47 per share, and down more than 5% over the past five sessions, the stock is still positive in September.

So if you waited to buy in after the initial offering buzz abated, as many prudent investors did, and bought in near the bottom, your SpaceX position is doing pretty well.

Late July SpaceX investors timed it perfectly

Analysts at Finbold engaged in a recent thought experiment: what is the position of an investor who bought into SpaceX at its bottom on July 27?

According to them, an investor who put $1,000 into SpaceX stock on July 27, when shares were trading at about $113, would now be holding a position worth about $1,310 based on its Friday closing price of $148.68.

SpaceX:

Morgan Stanley doubles down on SpaceX stock for investors

SpaceX analyst plots path to bold $100 billion claim

JPMorgan resets SpaceX price target after earnings

SpaceX raised about $75 billion with its IPO, so clearly there was plenty of retail and institutional interest in the stock. But prudent investors waited, and those who exercised a bit of patience were rewarded.

SpaceX has a unique lockup period for insiders that bars them from selling stock in phased tranches. Sept. 24 was the most recent tranche; the next comes Oct. 9, and the one after that comes Oct. 24.

Robert Michaud / Getty Images

Deutsche Bank maintains buy rating

Deutsche Bank analysts expect SpaceX to achieve more than 2.3 GW of compute by the end of November and reach more than 2.7 GW early next year.

That should be more than enough compute capacity for its cloud hosting deals and its growing inference needs for Cursor and Grok Bot, and Grok training.

DB analysts estimate that the five customers SpaceX already has signed to Neocloud deals are worth $54.5 billion on an annualized revenue run-rate basis. While the company hasn’t revealed exactly how much compute it has to allocate to those contracts, DB estimates that the total is between 1.2 and 1.4 GW, implying $40 billion to $45 billion per GW pricing.

Related: OpenAI makes development moves to counter SpaceX and Meta

“Looking forward, with more capacity coming online, we expect at least a few more large deals to materialize given industry constraints. Perhaps worth mentioning, with the rise of agentic AI offerings, we think this will only further increase compute demand,” analyst Edison Yu wrote in a note viewed by TheStreet.

DB has a $235 price target that represents a potential 38% upside from the stock’s closing price Monday.

CEO Elon Musk hints at possible merger

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk spoke at the All-In Summit in Los Angeles on Sept. 14 and was asked why Tesla and SpaceX had not merged yet.

His answer suggests that the tie-up is only a matter of time.

“With all this collaboration, on so many levels, who can imagine what action one might take when there’s so much close collaboration in so many areas,” according to Yahoo Finance.

“Obviously, you know, we can’t talk about combining companies on an earnings call. It’s got to be done with the appropriate process,” he said.

A merger with Tesla, another trillion-dollar company, would obviously give SpaceX’s stock much more upside.

Related: SpaceX reaches orbit as Elon Musk sets bigger Starship goal

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Why we love this deal

As autumn days grow shorter, nighttime arrives sooner, and your outdoor space can become a dark and dangerous tripping hazard. In the summertime, the sun is out well past dinnertime, so outdoor lighting isn’t as big of a priority. When the dim sidewalks and shadowy driveways become harder to navigate earlier in the day, lighting your home’s exterior becomes more important. If you need to brighten up the sidewalks leading to the front porch, or elsewhere around the yard, there’s nothing more convenient than solar-powered lighting.

Solar lighting requires no electricity, so setup is simple, and it won’t increase your electric bill. It’s also quite affordable. The Skemo 12-Pack of Solar Pathway Lights is a bestseller at Walmart, and with a limited-time deal, you can get brown lantern-style stake lights for just $27, which is around $2 per light. The lights will power up after a day in the sunlight and automatically turn on at dusk, so you can just sit back and enjoy their romantic glow.

Skemo 12-Pack of Solar Pathway Lights, $27 (was $30) at Walmart

Courtesy of Walamrt

Shop at Walmart

Why do shoppers love it?

Featuring a classic lantern-shaped design, these pathway lights can illuminate the walkways, flower beds, or gardens in style. Each light measures 14.6 inches long, so when staked securely into the ground, they’ll stand about one foot tall, giving you improved visibility in the yard at night. The lights come equipped with 3,000-kelvin LED bulbs that are plenty bright, but the warm white light also provides a touch of coziness for an elevated ambiance. 

“I’ve had other solar lights, and these blow them out of the water,” one shopper raved. The shopper continued to praise the design, “The classy shape of the square light is beautiful, and it gives off a warm, bright light.”

Related: Amazon is selling a 3-piece 4-seater wicker sectional patio set for $279

The solar panel is built into the top of each light, so as long as they get adequate sunshine during the day, they can stay powered up for 8 to 12 hours. Rainy days are no problem for these stake lights, because the IP65 water-resistance protection means they’re protected from splashes and sprays coming from any direction. For even more convenience, the lights are made with durable ABS, a thermoplastic polymer, so they’re better protected against accidental kicks or hits from the weed eater. 

Details to know 

Lighting style: Pathway ground-stake light.

Bulb type: LED.

Power source: Solar.

These solar-powered pathway lights will automatically charge when exposed to sunlight, taking just 6 to 8 hours to fully charge. After charging throughout the day, they will provide 8 to 12 hours of illumination, automatically turning on when the sun goes down.

Shop more deals

Daybetter 6-Pack of Outdoor Solar Spotlights, $45 (was $76) at Walmart

Volivo 12-Pack of Solar Ground Lights, $24 (was $40) at Walmart

ExcMark 10-Pack of Solar Pathway Lights, $39 (was $60) at Walmart

At just $27, the Skemo 12-Pack of Solar Pathway Lights is a great way to illuminate your outdoor space. Since solar-powered lights require no electricity, they won’t increase your utility bill when powered up each night.

Aave jumped 11% on speculation over a token burn, with 72 of 100 CoinDesk 100 constituents higher even as the 10-year Treasury yield sat at 5.234%.