NEW YORK, December 29, 2025, 10:00 PM ET — Market closed
Applied Materials shares ended Monday up 0.44% at $263.05, near the top of their 52-week range, after a session that saw the broader market retreat from recent highs. The stock traded between $260.00 and $264.65 on the day.
The chip-equipment maker is closely watched because its orders tend to track wafer fab equipment spending — the big-ticket tools chipmakers buy to manufacture semiconductors. With 2025 winding down, traders have been calibrating expectations for 2026 capital spending as AI-linked demand lifts parts of the supply chain, while tighter export rules weigh on China-related sales.
Wall Street’s main indexes finished lower on Monday, led by declines in heavyweight technology and AI-linked names, as investors positioned for a data-light, holiday-shortened stretch into the New Year. “This is (not) the beginning of the end of the tech dominance, it’ll turn out to be a buying opportunity,” Hank Smith, head of investment strategy at Haverford Trust, said. Reuters
Within semiconductor equipment, Applied Materials held up better than some peers. Lam Research fell 1.24% and KLA slipped 1.50% in Monday’s session, according to MarketWatch data.
Trading was light in Applied Materials as well, with about 2.3 million shares changing hands — a muted print for a mega-cap stock in the final week of the year.
Investors have also kept one eye on the company’s China exposure and U.S. export controls. Applied said in November that it expected chipmaking-equipment spending in China to fall in 2026 as tighter U.S. restrictions limit market access, even as strong memory output tied to AI investment could partially offset the hit, Reuters reported.
Technically, the stock is trading above key moving averages, a sign momentum has held through December’s volatility, and it finished the day within roughly 5% of its 52-week high. Applied Materials dipped 0.13% after hours, and its 50-day and 200-day moving averages stood at about $243.83 and $190.43, respectively, StockAnalysis.com data showed.
Before Tuesday’s regular session, the focus is likely to stay on year-end positioning and whether profit-taking in mega-cap tech continues to spill over into chip-related names. Monday’s market pullback came in relatively quiet, holiday-shortened trading as 2025 nears its end, the Associated Press reported.
Traders are also watching the near-term interest-rate backdrop. Fed minutes and weekly jobless claims are on the calendar later this week, and any repricing in rate-cut expectations tends to hit long-duration tech stocks — and the companies that supply them — first.
For Applied Materials specifically, the next major checkpoint is earnings. The company is estimated to report results on Feb. 12, 2026, according to Nasdaq’s earnings calendar.
Until then, investors will be listening for signs that foundry/logic and memory customers are opening their wallets, and for any updated color on China demand and compliance-related shipment constraints. The stock’s late-December ceiling near the 52-week high remains the immediate technical test as the market heads into the final sessions of 2025.
