Shares of Applied Materials Inc. surged Wednesday on positive momentum in the chip sector and the chip materials company’s long-term forecast and share buyback program. Applied Materials shares rallied 6.9% to $49.09, helped in part by Micron Technology Inc.’s strong forecast for memory chips, and are up 52% year to date. Applied Materials forecast adjusted earnings of $5.08 a share in fiscal 2020 as Internet-of-things applications, Big Data and artificial intelligence drive computing demand. For the current year, analysts surveyed by FactSet expect fiscal earnings of $3.21 a share. The company also announced a new $3 billion share repurchase program in addition to the $995 million that remains on an earlier program.
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