Citi analyst Atif Malik reiterated a Buy rating and a $710.00 price target on Applied Materials (NASDAQ: AMAT), following a meeting with the company's CFO Brice Hill at the Citi Global TMT conference.

Key takeaways from the meeting included management's confidence in continued growth, supported by rising 8-quarter forecasts from its largest DRAM and leading-edge logic customers. Applied Materials' fab tracker includes more than 100 projects globally, with more than 10 new fabs added in each of the last two quarters.

Advanced packaging revenue was approximately $1.4 billion last year and is expected to grow more than 70% in calendar year 2026. The company is investing in panel-level packaging across lithography, e-beam inspection, and fine-line interconnects, though that segment remains in development rather than volume production.

On DRAM, management described a larger investment cycle ahead as spending shifts from line upgrades toward greenfield capacity. The company estimates an upgrade requires only about 25% of the equipment investment of a comparable greenfield facility.

Services growth is running above 20% in calendar year 2026, compared to a mid-teens long-term framework, driven by stronger systems shipments and high fab utilization. Management expects growth to normalize toward mid-teens over time.

Applied Materials shares closed at $454.71 prior to the announcement, according to the press release.