Applied Materials Favorable Leverage to AI-Driven Technology Inflections; Extended Customer Demand Visibility Solidifying Strong Multi-Year Growth Trajectory; Reit OW

Research evidence excerpt

Applied Materials Favorable Leverage to AI-Driven Technology Inflections; Extended Customer Demand Visibility Solidifying Strong Multi-Year Growth Trajectory; Reit OW

J P M O R G A N North America Equity Research

15 May 2026

Applied Materials

Favorable Leverage to AI-Driven Technology Overweight

Inflections; Extended Customer Demand Visibility AMAT, AMAT US

Solidifying Strong Multi-Year Growth Trajectory; Reit Price (14 May 26):$440.56

OW ▲Price Target (Dec-26):$515.00 Prior (Dec-26):$400.00

Applied Materials delivered a comprehensive beat-and-raise, with record Apr-Q

revs/margins/EPS, and guidance for Jul-Q that came in materially ahead of Semiconductors & Semiconductor

Capital Equipment / IT Hardwareexpectations, prompting a fresh round of positive estimate revisions (after Street

CY26/CY27 EPS estimates have already increased 16%/26% over the past 6 mos). Harlan Sur AC

Mgmt’s even more constructive tone on the call (relative to an already favorable (1-415) 315-6700

harlan.sur@jpmorgan.com

tone on the last call) was underpinned by a continued acceleration in customer

activity over the past 90 days, with cleanroom availability (called out last qtr as a Mayur Ramdhani

(1-212) 622-1664

gating factor) now being actively expanded via customer capacity reallocation mayur.ramdhani@jpmorgan.com

(unlocking incremental equipment orders), and AMAT’s largest customers now

Peter K Peng

providing rolling 8-qtr forecasts (giving AMAT the clearest and longest visibility (1-415) 315-8327

it has ever had into customer ramps). Semi Systems revenue growth is now poised peter.k.peng@jpmchase.com

to exceed 30% in CY26 (vs. mgmt’s 20%+ expectation last quarter), with mgmt J.P. Morgan Securities LLC

explicitly characterizing CY27 as “another strong, record year” for the industry,