Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) Shares Up 2% – Should You Buy?

Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT) shares rose 2% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $355.28 and last traded at $345.88. Approximately 6,110,324 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 25% from the average daily volume of 8,139,091 shares. The stock had previously closed at $338.94.

Key Headlines Impacting Applied Materials

Here are the key news stories impacting Applied Materials this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Announced long?term R&D partnership with SK hynix to accelerate next?gen DRAM and high?bandwidth memory (HBM) for AI — strengthens AMAT’s addressable market in AI memory equipment and validates its EPIC center R&D model. Applied Materials and SK hynix Announce Long-Term R&D Partnership to Accelerate AI Memory Innovation at EPIC Center in Silicon Valley
• Positive Sentiment: Partnered with Micron to co?develop next?gen memory optimized for AI — deal coverage has already supported near?term upside and positions AMAT for secular AI memory capex. Applied Materials forges partnerships with Micron and SK Hynix for AI memory chips
• Positive Sentiment: Market reaction: analysts and coverage note the partnerships as growth drivers—TipRanks and Barchart highlight stock gains and competitive positioning versus peers following the announcements. Applied Materials (AMAT) Stock Gains on AI Memory Deals with Micron, SK Hynix
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst research flow is supportive: Zacks and other research briefs call out Applied Materials for solid business momentum despite macro headwinds — useful context but not an immediate catalyst by itself. The Zacks Analyst Blog JPMorgan, Johnson & Johnson, Applied Materials and Value Line
• Neutral Sentiment: Top research reports (JPMorgan & others) reiterate AMAT’s exposure to a semiconductor rebound but flag rising risks — supportive long?term thesis, mixed near?term outlook. Top Research Reports for JPMorgan, Johnson & Johnson & Applied Materials
• Negative Sentiment: Sector weakness and profit?taking likely pressured the stock today despite the partnership news; commentators note the AI trade can be choppy even for leaders like AMAT. AMAT and Micron still winning in AI trade despite QQQ and sector weakness
• Negative Sentiment: Reported short?interest notes in some feeds appear inconsistent/erroneous (zero?share figures and NaN changes), creating noisy signals for traders and potential short?term volatility. Applied Materials forms long-term partnership to develop AI memory solutions

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AMAT has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Susquehanna raised shares of Applied Materials from a “neutral” rating to a “positive” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $180.00 to $400.00 in a report on Sunday, January 11th. KeyCorp lifted their price target on Applied Materials from $380.00 to $450.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 13th. Zacks Research raised Applied Materials from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $290.00 price objective on shares of Applied Materials in a research report on Friday, November 14th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Applied Materials from $310.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-six have assigned a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $363.46.

Applied Materials Stock Down 4.3%

The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $331.42 and its 200 day simple moving average is $260.02. The stock has a market cap of $266.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.65. The company has a current ratio of 2.71, a quick ratio of 1.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The manufacturing equipment provider reported $2.38 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.17. Applied Materials had a return on equity of 37.52% and a net margin of 27.78%.The firm had revenue of $7.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.88 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.38 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. Applied Materials has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 2.440-2.840 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Applied Materials, Inc. will post 9.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Applied Materials news, CFO Brice Hill sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $361.21, for a total value of $1,806,050.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 138,565 shares in the company, valued at approximately $50,051,063.65. This trade represents a 3.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Adam Sanders sold 534 shares of Applied Materials stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $379.16, for a total transaction of $202,471.44. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 4,625 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,753,615. This represents a 10.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 12,003 shares of company stock valued at $4,484,189 in the last 90 days. 0.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Applied Materials

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Grandfield & Dodd LLC boosted its position in Applied Materials by 6.9% during the 3rd quarter. Grandfield & Dodd LLC now owns 269,511 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $55,180,000 after acquiring an additional 17,397 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Applied Materials by 4.9% in the third quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 3,101,772 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock valued at $635,057,000 after purchasing an additional 145,050 shares during the last quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP lifted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 13,360.6% in the second quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 694,431 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $127,129,000 after purchasing an additional 689,272 shares in the last quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co lifted its position in shares of Applied Materials by 21.8% in the third quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 96,712 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $19,801,000 after purchasing an additional 17,288 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan boosted its holdings in Applied Materials by 82.2% during the third quarter. Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan now owns 26,893 shares of the manufacturing equipment provider’s stock worth $5,512,000 after purchasing an additional 12,132 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.56% of the company’s stock.

Applied Materials Company Profile

Applied Materials, Inc is a U.S.-based supplier of equipment, services and software used to manufacture semiconductor chips, flat panel displays and other advanced materials. Headquartered in Santa Clara, California, the company designs and sells capital equipment and related technologies that enable production of integrated circuits, display panels and materials used across the electronics supply chain.

Applied Materials’ offerings include process equipment and factory software that support critical steps in device fabrication, such as deposition, etch, implantation, inspection and metrology, as well as systems for packaging and advanced heterogeneous integration.