New York, February 5, 2026, 12:16 (EST) — Regular session
- Applied Materials shares were up about 0.7% in midday trade after a sharp drop a day earlier.
- Chip-equipment peers Lam Research, ASML and KLA were also higher, even as Alphabet and Qualcomm weighed on the broader tech mood.
- Citi lifted its price target on AMAT ahead of the company’s Feb. 12 results.
Applied Materials, Inc. shares rose on Thursday, clawing back some ground after the prior session’s selloff. The stock was up about 0.7% at $299.55 by midday, after swinging between $292.42 and $306.82.
The move matters because chip-equipment stocks are being pulled into a fresh argument over Big Tech spending. Alphabet said capital expenditure — cash spent on items like data centers and equipment — could nearly double this year, and chip and chip-equipment names moved higher on the read-through for demand. “Unforgiving scrutiny over AI capex continues to spook investors,” said Thomas Monteiro, a senior analyst at Investing.com, as investors sized up another heavy week of Big Tech results, with Amazon due after the close and Nvidia set to report on Feb. 25. (Kitco)
The same spending plans are also feeding a risk-off tape. “The AI trade which was the accelerant last year is perhaps the extinguisher this year,” said Melissa Brown, SimCorp’s managing director of investment decision research, as Alphabet and Qualcomm knocked U.S. stocks lower. (Investing.com Canada)
Applied was bruised on Wednesday when chipmakers and AI-linked stocks were hit hard, with the shares ending down more than 6% in a broad semiconductor slide after Advanced Micro Devices’ forecast rattled the group. (Nasdaq)
By midday Thursday, Lam Research was up about 1.5%, ASML gained about 1.5% and KLA added about 2.3%. Alphabet was down about 3.3%, while Qualcomm slid about 7.2% and AMD fell about 2.7%.
Citi analyst Atif Malik raised his price target on Applied Materials to $400 from $250 and kept a Buy rating, citing “positive spending revisions” from major foundry and memory-chip customers ahead of the January-quarter report. (TipRanks)
Applied has said it will report fiscal first-quarter 2026 results on Feb. 12 and hold its earnings call at 4:30 p.m. ET. (Applied Materials)
Investors will press for signs that orders tied to advanced logic and memory are holding up, and whether the company’s outlook absorbs the market’s new worry: AI spending is huge, but the payback is starting to get questioned.
There is also a downside case. Export controls remain a live variable for U.S. equipment makers, and Applied has flagged that broader U.S. restrictions could shave about $600 million from fiscal 2026 revenue — a risk that can reappear quickly in guidance language. (Reuters)
The longer-range industry backdrop is still constructive. SEMI has forecast that wafer-fab equipment sales will rise about 9% to $126 billion in 2026 as chipmakers expand capacity for AI-related logic and memory. (Reuters)
Next up is Applied’s Feb. 12 earnings and forecast, with traders watching whether management’s tone on the April quarter lines up with the latest swings in AI spending sentiment.
