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Specialty materials producer ATI's (ATI 1.77%) stock has had quite a run lately. Its share price was rising by more than 13% week to date as of early Friday morning, according to data compiled by S&P Global Market Intelligence. Much of this was due to a beat-and-raise third quarter posted by the industrial company, aided by a pair of analyst price target increases. Skyrocketing aerospace and defense revenue ATI published that quarterly earnings digest on Tuesday, revealing that its total sales for the period were 7% higher year over year at $1.13 billion. This was helped significantly by the excellent performance of the company's pivotal aerospace and defense business, which experienced a 21% increase in its take to $793 million. This filtered down into a net profit not according to generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) of over $119 million ($0.85 per share), representing a 12% increase over the year-ago quarter. With those headline numbers, ATI beat the average analyst estimates. Pundits tracking the stock were modeling $1.12 billion on the top line, and only $0.73 for non-GAAP (adjusted) net income. The obviously confident company raised both its adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) and earnings guidance for full-year 2025. It now believes the latter metric will land at $3.15 to $3.21 per share, up from its previous outlook of $2.90 to $3.07. Up, up, and away That kind of performance rarely escapes the notice of the analyst community, and ATI's inspired two pundit price target raises. Susquehanna's Charles Minervino upped his by 20% to $120 per share from $100, while Deutsche Bank prognosticator Scott Deuschle hiked his own to $117 from $98. Both maintained their equivalents of buy recommendations.
