Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) shares are trading slightly higher at $191.48 in early Monday activity, marking a 4.4% gain over the past week. Traders and investors are watching for the company's third-quarter earnings report, confirmed for Thursday's after-market session. According to analyst consensus estimates, Applied Materials is expected to report EPS of $2.02 on revenue of $6.673 billion.

For the third-quarter, investors should keep an eye on whether Applied Materials can maintain its strong momentum from the second-quarter. In the second-quarter, the company reported $6.646 billion in revenue, slightly above expectations, and delivered adjusted EPS of $2.09, also beating estimates.

The company also said generated $1.39 billion in cash from operations and returned $1.09 billion to shareholders through dividends and share buybacks.

Key areas of growth to watch include the company's positioning in sectors like AI, IoT, electric vehicles and clean energy, which are pivotal to its long-term strategy.

Investors may also monitor how well the company manages its capital returns and whether it can sustain its strong cash flow amidst potential economic challenges.

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How To Buy AMAT Stock

By now you're likely curious about how to participate in the market for Applied Materials – be it to purchase shares, or even attempt to bet against the company.

Buying shares is typically done through a brokerage account. You can find a list of possible trading platforms here. Many will allow you to buy 'fractional shares,' which allows you to own portions of stock without buying an entire share. For example, some stock, like Berkshire Hathaway can cost thousands of dollars to own just one share. However, if you only want to invest a fraction of that, brokerages will allow you to do so.

In the the case of Applied Materials, which is trading at $193.38 as of publishing time, $100 would buy you 0.52 shares of stock.

If you're looking to bet against a company, the process is more complex. You'll need access to an options trading platform, or a broker who will allow you to 'go short' a share of stock by lending you the shares to sell. The process of shorting a stock can be found at this resource. Otherwise, if your broker allows you to trade options, you can either buy a put option, or sell a call option at a strike price above where shares are currently trading – either way it allows you to profit off of the share price decline.

According to data from Benzinga Pro, AMAT has a 52-week high of $255.89 and a 52-week low of $129.21.