How much a stock's price changes over time is a significant driver for most investors. Not only can price performance impact your portfolio, but it can help you compare investment results across sectors and industries as well.
Another factor that can influence investors is FOMO, or the fear of missing out, especially with tech giants and popular consumer-facing stocks.
What if you'd invested in Applied Materials (AMAT) ten years ago? It may not have been easy to hold on to AMAT for all that time, but if you did, how much would your investment be worth today?
Applied Materials' Business In-Depth
With that in mind, let's take a look at Applied Materials' main business drivers.
Headquartered in Santa Clara, California, Applied Materials is one of the world’s largest suppliers of equipment for the fabrication of semiconductor, flat panel liquid crystal displays (LCDs), and solar photovoltaic (PV) cells and modules. The company also offers deployment and support services related to the equipment supplied.
In fiscal 2025, Applied reported results in four segments—Semiconductor Systems (73.3% of total revenue), Applied Global Services (22.5%), and Corporate and Other (4.2%). The Corporate and Other segment included 89.5% of Display revenues.
Applied Materials’ Silicon segment offers equipment for front-end operations in the semiconductor manufacturing process. Front-end processes involve the deposition or implantation of multiple thin layers of electronically conductive, semiconductive and insulating materials onto and within a silicon wafer with the help of photomasks (reticles) to give multiple copies of integrated circuit devices.
With over 33,000 systems installed, the Applied Global Services segment goes a long way to ensure customer satisfaction and support. There are primarily three kinds of services offered.
Applied has developed technologies for significantly larger-sized wafers made of materials other than silicon. This has helped it expand its portfolio into equipment for thin film transistor (TFT) LCDs (made from glass) and OLED, which are used in smartphones, TVs and other consumer electronic devices. The company operates this business under the Display segment.
The Energy and Environmental Solutions segment primarily consists of the solar product line. Currently, the company offers equipment for manufacturing both wafer-based crystalline silicon (c-Si) and glass-based thin film used in the solar PV cell fabrication process.
Being a leading producer of specialized equipment, most of the competition comes from other large equipment makers, such as KLAC and LRCX.
Bottom Line
Anyone can invest, but building a successful investment portfolio takes a combination of a few things: research, patience, and a little bit of risk. So, if you had invested in Applied Materials a decade ago, you're probably feeling pretty good about your investment today.
According to our calculations, a $1000 investment made in February 2016 would be worth $18,430.88, or a gain of 1,743.09%, as of February 4, 2026, and this return excludes dividends but includes price increases.
The S&P 500 rose 261.71% and the price of gold increased 310.86% over the same time frame in comparison.
Analysts are anticipating more upside for AMAT.
Applied Materials is benefiting from strength in the Semiconductor Systems, owing to a rebound in the semiconductor industry, particularly in the foundry and logic space. Consistent progress in the services is aiding Applied Global Services' performance. Solid momentum in the subscription and display businesses is a plus. Its strength in IoT, Communications, Auto, Power and Sensors (ICAPS) is likely to continue aiding its position in the semiconductor industry. Its diversified portfolio remains its key growth driver. However, increasing U.S.-China tensions and export restrictions on semiconductor manufacturing equipment may undermine its near-term growth prospects. Slow memory market recovery and rising operating costs remain other major concerns.
The stock is up 7.66% over the past four weeks, and no earnings estimate has gone lower in the past two months, compared to 3 higher, for fiscal 2026. The consensus estimate has moved up as well.
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Applied Materials, Inc. (AMAT): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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