After Applied Materials announced an agreement to acquire Kokusai Electric for $2.2B in cash, Stifel analyst Patrick Ho said he received several questions that cited Applied's "need" to acquire Kokusai, but he does not believe this is the right way to characterize the deal. Though he does not believe the acquisition displays any shortcomings of Applied or that the company "needs" Kokusai to grow its memory share, Ho does think the deal can help "accelerate" Applied's efforts to gain share. He keeps a Buy rating and $57 price target on Applied Materials shares.