NEW YORK, December 28, 2025, 9:09 PM ET — Market closed
- Lam Research shares last closed at $178.07, up about 0.4% in the most recent session.
- Broker notes in late December pointed to a potential rebound in memory chipmaking equipment spending.
- Traders are watching Fed minutes and late‑year U.S. data for interest‑rate signals ahead of Lam’s January results.
Lam Research Corp shares ended the latest session modestly higher, closing at $178.07 as U.S. markets were shut on Sunday.
The chip-equipment maker is in focus heading into the last trading days of the year, when positioning can swing on expectations for 2026 growth and interest rates. Rate-cut bets have been a key support for richly valued technology shares, with the Federal Reserve’s latest meeting minutes due this week.
Lam’s fiscal quarter also ended on Sunday, setting up its next earnings report and outlook update in January — a moment investors often use to reset assumptions about chipmakers’ capital spending.
In the broader space, the VanEck Semiconductor ETF was little changed in the last session, while Lam’s close outpaced the nearly flat moves in the S&P 500 and Nasdaq-tracking funds. Peers Applied Materials, KLA and ASML also finished slightly higher.
A weekend note circulated by Insider Monkey highlighted recent target hikes on Lam, tying the stock’s late‑year strength to expectations that memory-chip equipment orders pick up in 2026. B. Riley lifted its price target while keeping a buy rating, and Mizuho analyst Vijay Rakesh raised his target and maintained an outperform rating, the report said.
The call rests on “WFE,” short for wafer-fab equipment — the expensive tools used to manufacture chips — and on Lam’s heavy exposure to etch equipment, which carves microscopic patterns into silicon during chip production. Finviz
Those expectations matter for Lam because chipmakers typically adjust WFE budgets quickly when demand shifts, and equipment suppliers can see orders accelerate or pause with little warning. Investors have been watching whether memory spending — a key driver for Lam — turns into a more durable upcycle.
Macro signals are also in play. Tony Sycamore, market analyst at IG, said upcoming data could sharpen expectations around the next Fed move: “If these reports show unambiguous labour market weakness, it will increase the likelihood that the Fed cuts rates by 25bp at its January FOMC meeting.” Reuters
On the U.S. calendar, traders will parse housing and sentiment data alongside the Fed minutes, with the focus on any shift in rate expectations that can ripple through technology valuations.
Lam’s last formal outlook came with its October results, when the company guided for revenue of about $5.20 billion, plus or minus $300 million, for the quarter ended Dec. 28, along with margins and per-share profit ranges.
On that call, the company also flagged that it typically lays out more detailed wafer-fab equipment spending assumptions on its January earnings update — a watchpoint for investors trying to model 2026 demand.
Before Monday’s session, Lam will remain a proxy for risk appetite in the semiconductor equipment group, with shares hovering just under the $180 level after touching the high-$170s in recent trading.
The next hard catalyst is the company’s earnings report, which market calendars currently list for late January, though the company has not confirmed a date.
Until then, investors will be watching for any shift in the rate outlook from Fed communications and data, and for signs that chipmakers’ 2026 equipment budgets — especially in memory — are firming rather than slipping.
