Zacks Highlights Applied Materials, Lam Research, and FormFactor as Top Semiconductor Buys

Industry
โดย Zacks·Read original
Summary · why it matters

Zacks Investment Research identifies Applied Materials, Lam Research, and FormFactor as three stocks to buy from the prospering semiconductor industry, all carrying a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). The industry is benefiting from surging AI demand that is expanding beyond model training into inference and agentic AI, driving sustained investments across leading-edge logic, DRAM, NAND, High-Bandwidth Memory, and advanced packaging. Applied Materials expects its semiconductor equipment business to grow more than 30% in calendar 2026, with its stock up 106.1% year to date and a fiscal 2026 earnings estimate of $12.14 per share. Lam Research sees its calendar 2026 wafer fabrication equipment outlook lifted by AI-driven tool demand, with shares up 83% year to date and a steady fiscal 2026 earnings estimate of $5.68 per share. FormFactor is poised for a record second quarter of 2026, driven by probe card demand for high-performance compute and advanced packaging, with its stock up 89.2% year to date and a 2026 earnings estimate of $2.40 per share. The Zacks Electronics - Semiconductors industry has returned 34.9% over the past year, outperforming the S&P 500's 8.8% gain, and currently trades at a forward price-to-earnings ratio of 28.28X.

Impact on stocks 3

Semiconductors▲ · 3 stocks
Applied Materials Inc
AMAT
▲ PositiveDemandrelevance

Applied Materials expects its semiconductor equipment business to grow more than 30% in calendar 2026, driven by surging AI demand.

FormFactor Inc
FORM
▲ PositiveDemandrelevance

FormFactor is poised for a record second quarter of 2026, driven by probe card demand for high-performance compute and advanced packaging.

Lam Research Corp
LRCX
▲ PositiveDemandrelevance

Lam Research sees its calendar 2026 wafer fabrication equipment outlook lifted by AI-driven tool demand.

Theme Impact 5

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