Applied Materials, Inc. (AMAT) Up 4.9% — Time to Convert Conviction to Ownership?
Applied Materials, Inc. (AMAT) Up 4.9%: Is the Chip Selloff Creating an Entry Point?
Applied Materials, Inc. (AMAT) is bouncing back on Friday, last trading at $387.54 on the NASDAQ, up $18.14 from the prior close of $369.40. The rebound recovers a meaningful share of Thursday's losses, though the stock remains roughly 47.6% below its 52-week high of $739.67, set on June 30, 2026. A rally from these levels gives investors exposure to one of the semiconductor industry's most profitable equipment makers at roughly half its summer peak.
Volume stands at about 3.31 million shares so far in the session, compared with a 90-day average of roughly 7.56 million. With the regular session still open, turnover has reached about 44% of a typical full day's activity.
Why Applied Materials, Inc. Price is Moving Higher
Friday's gain is a sector-wide relief rally after one of the most punishing sessions for chip stocks in years. On November 5, the PHLX Semiconductor ETF (SOXQ) fell 12.25%, its worst single day since March 2020, and AMAT dropped 13.6%. That selloff was driven by worries that post-election scrutiny could slow or raise the cost of U.S. data-center construction, along with broader doubts about the pace of AI spending. By Friday morning, buyers were stepping back in. The iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX) was up about 5% before the open, and AMAT and AMD were each up more than 6% in premarket trading.
AMAT's peers confirm the pattern. Lam Research Corporation (LRCX) is up 9.29% today and Micron Technology, Inc. (MU) has gained 6.25%. Wafer-fab equipment and memory names are leading the recovery, which suggests investors are treating Thursday's decline as an overreaction rather than a lasting change in the AI infrastructure buildout.
The fundamentals behind that view are strong. In its fiscal Q3 report on August 13, Applied Materials posted non-GAAP EPS of $3.50, ahead of the $3.40 estimate. Revenue of $9.12 billion topped the roughly $8.99 billion consensus and grew 25% year over year. GAAP net income rose 43% to $2.54 billion, and GAAP operating margin expanded to 33.7% from 30.6%. Management guided fiscal Q4 revenue to $10.25 billion ± $500 million and non-GAAP EPS to $4.02 ± $0.20, which would mark another step up in both lines. The next report is expected on November 12, so the company will soon have a chance to show whether demand held up through the recent volatility.
What is the Applied Materials, Inc. Rating - Should I Buy?
Weiss Ratings assigns AMAT a B- rating. Current recommendation is Buy. The rating rests on a business that is growing quickly, converting that growth into high profits, and doing so from a strong financial position. The share price has been far less steady than the business.
The fundamental indices are AMAT's clear strength. The Excellent rating on the Growth Index reflects revenue growth of 24.83%. That is a strong pace for an equipment supplier of this size, and it shows how central Applied's tools have become to leading-edge logic and memory buildouts. Profitability supports the Excellent Efficiency Index rating. A 41.07% ROE and a 30.05% profit margin are standout figures for a capital-equipment maker, whose customers usually have the pricing power in the supply chain. Those returns point to a technology position strong enough that chipmakers pay for it. The Excellent Solvency Index rating means the balance sheet can absorb the industry's cyclical swings, which matters after a week like this one. The Good rating on the Dividend Index reflects a dependable payout program rather than a high yield. At 0.54%, the dividend supplements the growth story rather than driving it.
The share price tells a more mixed story. The Fair rating on the Total Return Index reflects a stock trading nearly 48% below its June high despite fundamentals that kept improving through that period. The Weak Volatility Index rating shows up directly in this week's trading: a 13.6% drop in Thursday's sector-wide selloff followed by a nearly 5% rebound Friday. That kind of sentiment-driven swing explains why the overall rating sits at B- rather than higher. It also means investors comfortable with the volatility are buying earnings power at a much lower price than they would have paid five months ago, with a forward P/E of 31.86 against trailing EPS of $11.60.
Within the Information Technology sector, Applied Materials is on par with Lam Research Corporation (LRCX, B-) and Micron Technology, Inc. (MU, B-). It sits just below NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA, B), Broadcom Inc. (AVGO, B) and Texas Instruments Incorporated (TXN, B). AMAT is firmly in Buy territory with the industry leaders, held back mainly by recent price swings rather than any weakness in the underlying business.
About Applied Materials, Inc.
Applied Materials, Inc. (AMAT) is an Information Technology company and the world's largest supplier of the manufacturing equipment, services and software used to make advanced chips. Founded in 1967 and headquartered in Santa Clara, California, the company sells to foundries, logic manufacturers, and DRAM and NAND memory producers worldwide. Its Semiconductor Systems business makes the tools for nearly every major step of wafer fabrication. These include chemical vapor deposition, physical vapor deposition and atomic layer deposition systems that lay down thin films, along with etch, ion implantation, rapid thermal processing and chemical mechanical planarization equipment. It also offers metrology and inspection platforms, including e-beam technology used for process control at the most advanced nodes.
Beyond selling new tools, Applied Materials earns recurring revenue through its Applied Global Services segment. That business supplies spare parts, upgrades, maintenance and fab-optimization services across a very large installed base of systems. As that base grows, it produces steadier, higher-visibility revenue that helps offset the cyclical pattern of customer equipment spending. The company also has a Display business that makes equipment for producing LCD and OLED panels used in televisions, laptops and smartphones.
Applied's competitive advantage comes from the breadth of its portfolio and its deep work with customers on materials engineering. As chips move to gate-all-around transistors, backside power delivery, advanced packaging and high-bandwidth memory, manufacturing depends more on precisely engineering materials at the atomic level, which is Applied's core expertise. Its ability to combine several process steps into integrated solutions, together with decades of joint development with the world's leading chipmakers, keeps the company closely involved in the industry's most important technology transitions.
Investor Outlook
Applied Materials, Inc. (AMAT) carries a Weiss Rating of B- (Buy). Friday's sector rebound is a reminder that the stock's fundamentals remained intact even as AI-related selling pushed the share price to roughly half its June high. Investors should watch the November 12 fiscal Q4 report against guidance of $10.25 billion in revenue and $4.02 in non-GAAP EPS, as well as any signs that data-center construction concerns are affecting customer spending plans. See full rankings of all B- rated Information Technology stocks inside the Weiss Stock Screener.
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