Before the stock took flight, its top-line growth looked sleepy, but its profitability was already telling a powerful story about the coming AI boom.
If you’re kicking yourself for missing the 230.7% run in Applied Materials (AMAT) stock, take a breath
On the surface, the setup didn’t scream moonshot. In fact, just before the surge, the company’s trailing twelve-month revenue growth was a modest 2.1%, a slowdown from its own recent history. So, where was the real story?
It wasn’t in the headline number. It was hiding one line down, in the company’s profitability, where a fundamental shift in the business was already taking shape. The Real Story Was A Shift In The Spending Mix For months, in one earnings call after another, management was telegraphing a sea change.