Applied Materials, Inc. (AMAT) Stock Price & How to Invest

Applied Materials is the largest semiconductor equipment company in the world by revenue. The company manufactures the wafer fabrication equipment that semiconductor fabs use to deposit, etch, polish, and inspect silicon wafers. AMAT does not make lithography systems (ASML has that monopoly) but is essentially everywhere else in the fab equipment market.

Key product areas include deposition (chemical vapor deposition, physical vapor deposition, atomic layer deposition for advanced nodes), etch (removing material in precise patterns), chemical mechanical polishing (CMP, smoothing wafer surfaces), implant (introducing dopants), and inspection (defect detection). AMAT also has an emerging display equipment business and a service business that generates recurring revenue from installed tool base. Founded in 1967, headquartered in Santa Clara, California. Gary Dickerson has been CEO since 2013.

The business has accelerated in 2026. Trailing revenue reached about ~$30.8 billion with net income near ~$9.3 billion, and the quarter ended July 26, 2026 brought revenue of ~$9.1 billion (up about 25% year over year) and EPS of $3.50, ahead of the ~$3.39 consensus. It was the fourth straight quarterly EPS beat. On October 13, 2026 the company laid out 2030 targets of about 54% adjusted gross margin, 40% adjusted operating margin, and services revenue above $12 billion a year, and in mid-October it opened a $5 billion semiconductor innovation center. The stock still fell after the plan, as Evercore ISI cut its target to $590 from $700 and Needham cut to $580 from $740, leaving shares at $418.14 on October 16, up about 55.5% year to date and 83.6% over one year.

Semiconductor capex is cyclical. China exposure (where export controls have already cut some revenue) is the largest single near-term risk; further restrictions could expand. Valuation and expectations are now a risk of their own: the stock more than doubled from its 52-week low of ~$203 to ~$740 before falling about 26% over three months to $418 by October 16, 2026, and two brokers cut price targets the week the company presented its 2030 plan. Consensus already assumes fiscal Q4 EPS of ~$4.06 (up about 87% year over year) and 44% EPS growth in fiscal 2027, so a softer outlook on November 12 would land against high expectations. Free cash flow of ~$3.1 billion trailing is well below net income, a gap worth watching as the company spends on capacity and R&D.

36 analysts publish price targets on AMAT, averaging $632.28 against a $409.29 price as of October 2026, or +54.5%. The published targets run from $358.00 to $900.00, a wide spread, and the ratings split 33 buy, 7 hold, 0 sell. Over the last six months there have been 4 raises and 6 cuts among the published actions. A price target is what an analyst published on a date, not a prediction, and sell-side ratings skew positive across the whole market.

Read the full AMAT forecast and price target for the target table, the recent rating actions by firm, and how the consensus has shifted.

We give no verdict on Applied Materials, Inc.. Both cases are real, which is why the question is contested at all, so here is the strongest version of each.

The case for buying. Leading-edge logic and memory capex. Every new advanced semiconductor fab (TSMC Arizona, Intel Ohio, Samsung Texas, Micron New York) requires substantial AMAT equipment. The most optimistic published target, $900.00, assumes this works close to its best case.

The case against. Semiconductor capex is cyclical. The most pessimistic target, $358.00, is roughly what AMAT is worth if this bites instead.

Read the full bull and bear case on AMAT, including what would have to change to break either one. Walnut is not an investment adviser.

No. Applied Materials, Inc. (AMAT) has not split its stock in the last 10 years. That is a statement about the window we check rather than about the company’s entire history, so an older split is possible. It also matters less than it once did: fractional shares mean a high price per share no longer keeps smaller investors out, which removed most of the practical reason to split.

A simple financial snapshot. These are approximations and refresh quarterly; for current figures see Applied Materials, Inc.'s investor relations page or your broker.

• Revenue (TTM): ~$30.8 billion
• Revenue growth (latest quarter, YoY): ~25%
• Operating margin: ~34%
• Net income (TTM): ~$9.3 billion
• EPS (TTM / next fiscal year est.): ~$11.59 / ~$18.46
• P/E (trailing / forward): ~36x / ~23x
• Dividend yield: ~0.5%
• Market cap: ~$332 billion

As of October 16, 2026, AMAT trades at about 36x trailing and 23x forward earnings, with a price-to-sales ratio near 10.8x, a rerating from the low-20s trailing multiple of early 2026 even after the stock's pullback from its high. The latest quarter beat on EPS ($3.50 vs ~$3.39) with revenue up about 25%, and consensus for fiscal Q4 (reported November 12, 2026) is EPS of ~$4.06 on ~$10.3 billion of revenue. The 36 analysts covering the stock have an average target near $632.

If you want AMAT exposure as part of a larger bundle rather than directly, these ETFs hold it meaningfully. Weights are approximate and refresh quarterly.

These are the investment theses AMAT naturally fits into. Each links to a full theme guide listing every other stock that belongs and the ETFs commonly used as a passive proxy.

Other names that sit close to AMAT: same theme, named as a direct competitor, or held beside it in the same funds. Each entry says which. Worth a look if you are thinking about diversification within a thesis rather than concentration on one ticker.

There are three common ways to get AMAT exposure. Buy shares (or fractional shares) directly at any major broker. Hold an ETF that includes it (MTUM, QUAL, SMH), which spreads the position across many companies. Or build it into a focused thematic portfolio, so AMAT sits alongside other stocks that express the same thesis.

Walnut takes the portfolio route. Describe a thesis where AMAT fits (for example “AI infrastructure” or “dividend-growth large-caps”) and the AI proposes 5 to 6 constituents with target weights. You review the plan and fund it through your own broker when you're ready.

New to this? Start with how to invest in stocks, see how to analyze a stock with AI, or compare the best AI stock analyzers.

Applied Materials (AMAT) is the breadth leader in wafer-fabrication equipment, present in nearly every fab step except lithography (ASML's domain), with durable service revenue smoothing the capex swings. In a portfolio it behaves as a cyclical semiconductor-infrastructure holding that captures AI-driven fab buildouts and reshoring without the concentration of a single chip designer. After a run to a 52-week high near $740 and a pullback to about $418 by mid-October 2026, it trades at roughly 36x trailing and 23x forward earnings, with fiscal Q4 results due November 12, 2026.

Whether AMAT is worth buying today depends more on your time horizon and what you already hold than on any single call. We walk through valuation, what would have to go right, and the risks in is AMAT a buy or a sell?, and where the stock could go from here in the AMAT stock forecast.

For income investors, whether AMAT pays a dividend and how the payout looks is covered in does AMAT pay a dividend? And to weigh AMAT against a peer, read the full side-by-side comparisons: AMAT vs NVDA and AMAT vs AMD.