New York, Jan 21, 2026, 18:21 (ET) — After-hours
Shares of Lam Research Corp climbed 2.6% Wednesday, closing at $228.39 in after-hours trading. The rise followed a wave of analyst target upgrades on chipmaking equipment stocks ahead of next week’s earnings.
The timing is crucial. Lam is set to report on Jan. 28, with investors betting that chipmakers are accelerating tool orders into 2026, driven by a surge in memory spending and sustained demand for advanced logic.
For Lam and others, the focus isn’t just this quarter’s results but what’s ahead: the forecast for wafer-fab equipment (WFE) spending — the capital chipmakers allocate for their chip-making tools — and whether their order books are firming up or slowing down.
Deutsche Bank’s Melissa Weathers bumped her price target on Lam to $260 from $195, maintaining a Buy rating. She cautioned that near-term results might come in “solidly above Street,” according to a note shared by The Fly. 1
Just a day before, UBS raised its price target to $255 from $200 and kept its Buy rating. The bank noted strong demand signals and “upward-biased” guidance, highlighting “aggressive pull-ins” — customers accelerating orders — across foundry, DRAM, and NAND segments, which have “largely filled” equipment slots through late 2026. 2
Needham bumped its price target to $250 from $160, maintaining a Buy rating. Analyst Charles Shi highlighted a “broad-based demand improvement” in the last 90 days, saying the outlook for semiconductor capital equipment looks solid as earnings approach. 3
Lam wasn’t alone in rallying. Applied Materials climbed 2.2%, KLA also gained 2.2%, and U.S.-listed ASML shares jumped 2.7%.
Lam supplies etch and deposition equipment essential for chip manufacturing, alongside related services. This positions the company as a direct barometer of chipmakers’ capital expenditure in both memory and logic sectors.
The setup works both ways. As expectations climb ahead of the report, any sign that tool shipments are falling behind, customers are delaying orders, or memory upgrades aren’t picking up pace could quickly flip a “beat” into a sell-the-news selloff.
Lam Research’s quarterly earnings call and webcast are set for Wednesday, Jan. 28, at 2:00 p.m. Pacific. Investors will zero in on details about orders and margins, plus any hints on WFE demand heading into the latter half of 2026. 4
