Thursday, May 21, 2026

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. (AMAT), Shell plc (SHEL) and KLA Corp. (KLAC). These research reports have been hand-picked from the roughly 70 reports published by our analyst team today.

You can see all of today’s research reports here >>>

Ahead of Wall Street

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You can read today's AWS here >>> Claims, Starts & Walmart: Busy Pre-Market

Today's Featured Research Reports

Applied Materials’ shares 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. 

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. 

Offsetting these positives are high China exposure amid changing export rules, the inherently cyclical nature of capital spending, and intense competition across process steps.

(You can read the full research report on Applied Materials here >>>)

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. 

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. 

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.

(You can read the full research report on Shell here >>>)

KLA’s shares 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. 

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. 

However, KLAC’s prospects remains 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.

(You can read the full research report on KLA here >>>)

Other noteworthy reports we are featuring today include Gilead Sciences, Inc. (GILD), Carvana Co. (CVNA) and Occidental Petroleum Corp. (OXY).

Mark Vickery
Senior Editor

Note: Sheraz Mian heads the Zacks Equity Research department and is a well-regarded expert of aggregate earnings. He is frequently quoted in the print and electronic media and publishes the weekly Earnings Trends and Earnings Preview reports. If you want an email notification each time Sheraz publishes a new article, please click here>>>