In “Surging Crude Means Picking Shrewd” why did Christopher Zook praise Applied Materials?

“The best idea right now would be Applied Materials (AMAT - Annual Report),” he said.  “We believe there’s a tremendous growth opportunity there in the solar business, as well as the economy begins to recover in 2009 and 2010, they’re going to get strength in their core businesses as well.”

Eventually the semiconductor firms will start ordering again. Meanwhile, solar is too small to register much, in my opinion.

Disclosure: William Trent has a long position in SMH.