New York, Jan 16, 2026, 18:04 EST — After-hours.
- Applied Materials shares closed up 2.5% at $327.01 on Friday, leaving the stock about 1.2% below a 52-week high.
- Barclays upgraded the chip-equipment maker and lifted its price target to $360, citing improving memory spending.
- A holiday-shortened week and a Feb. 12 earnings report are the next big checkpoints.
Applied Materials, Inc. shares ended Friday up 2.5% at $327.01, closing about 1.2% below a 52-week high, as buyers stuck with chip-equipment stocks late in a choppy week. The shares were little changed after the bell.
The move matters because chip-tool names have turned into a high-beta read on the next wave of factory spending tied to artificial intelligence. U.S. stocks finished nearly flat ahead of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, but a semiconductor index rose 1.2%. Anthony Saglimbene, chief market strategist at Ameriprise Financial, said markets have been “flat-lining” as earnings season gets going. Reuters
Chip stocks started running on Thursday after Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co posted strong results and predicted robust annual growth, and said more U.S. manufacturing capacity was in the works. “With tech, there was some worry as far as valuations,” Alan Lancz, president of Alan B. Lancz & Associates, said, adding that the news from TSMC had “kind of squashed” that concern. Reuters
Barclays analyst Tom O’Malley upgraded Applied Materials to Overweight from Equal Weight and raised his price target to $360 from $250, TipRanks reported. He said the stock had lagged on “valid concerns” about China competition and exposure, but a pickup in DRAM — a type of memory chip used in PCs and servers — makes the shares “worth owning,” the note said. TipRanks
The call hit a group that was already moving together. On Thursday, KLA climbed about 7.7% and Lam Research gained about 4.2% as investors bought chip-equipment names after TSMC’s outlook.
Applied Materials sells tools used to make and package semiconductors — the gear that sits upstream of chipmakers’ production lines. When factories ramp, the equipment makers usually feel it first.
But the trade has its soft spots. AI spending plans can slip, and the timing and scale of deployments are still debated, even among bullish analysts. China exposure and intensifying local competition remain a recurring worry for toolmakers that have relied on that market.
Next week is shorter, with U.S. markets shut on Monday, and investors will be watching whether chip stocks hold their ground as more earnings reports roll in. Options traders have also been bracing for choppier tape after monthly expiration.
Applied Materials is scheduled to report results on Feb. 12 after the close, according to TipRanks. The key questions: what it says about foundry spending (contract chipmaking), DRAM demand, and how China is shaping the order book.
