Applied Materials Inc (AMAT)
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Applied Materials builds the machines without which no chip in the world gets made — and it passes all five tests in our in-house Buffett criteria scanner: rank 8 of the U.S. selection (as of July 18, 2026). We read the annual reports (10-K) and the quarterly reports (10-Q) through April 26, 2026: a world-class balance sheet with a 40 percent return on equity — but also a half-year profit that jumped 45 percent while operating income barely moved, a $253 million penalty for China shipments, and a valuation near 59 times earnings. Not investment advice — just a reminder that a screen is a sieve, not a blessing.
Appears in These Scanners
This stock currently matches 5 of our scanner strategies — each hit links to the scanner.
Only genuine hits from verified scanners count; pure ranking metrics (P/E, P/S, and similar, which just sort the whole universe) don't count as a hit. View all scanners
Basics
Performance
Valuation
Profitability
Balance Sheet & Safety
Growth
Dividend
Quality & Screener
AI Rating
Uses AIApplied Materials verkauft keine KI-Produkte — die Anlagen sind generische Chipfertigungs-Werkzeuge („Materials Engineering“), und KI erscheint in den Geschäfts- und Quartalsberichten (10-K/10-Q) durchgängig als externer Nachfragetreiber der belieferten Branchen (inklusive der ausdrücklichen Warnung, dass die KI-bezogene Nachfrage schwer präzise zu prognostizieren ist) —, aber der Geschäftsbericht (10-K) für das Geschäftsjahr 2025 belegt den eigenen operativen Einsatz: KI-Fähigkeiten werden zunehmend in Technologieentwicklung, Geschäftsabläufe sowie Produkte und Dienste eingebaut, und in der Mitarbeiter-Schulung kommen KI-basierte Simulationen zum Einsatz — daher „Nutzt KI“.
View the full file — quotes, sources, reviewed filings
„Artificial intelligence (AI) and technologies related to AI are a significant demand driver for the industries we serve. AI is evolving rapidly and the expected timing and amount of investments related to AI can change significantly. As a result, it is difficult to accurately forecast demand for our products related to AI."
Künstliche Intelligenz (KI) und mit KI verbundene Technologien sind ein bedeutender Nachfragetreiber für die von uns belieferten Branchen. KI entwickelt sich schnell, und der erwartete Zeitpunkt und Umfang KI-bezogener Investitionen können sich erheblich ändern. Deshalb ist die Nachfrage nach unseren KI-bezogenen Produkten schwer präzise zu prognostizieren.
„We are increasingly incorporating AI capabilities into the development of technologies, our business operations and our products and services. AI technology is complex and rapidly evolving and may subject us to significant competitive, legal, regulatory, operational and other risks."
Wir bauen zunehmend KI-Fähigkeiten in die Entwicklung von Technologien, unsere Geschäftsabläufe sowie unsere Produkte und Dienstleistungen ein. KI-Technologie ist komplex, entwickelt sich schnell und kann uns erheblichen Wettbewerbs-, Rechts-, Regulierungs-, Betriebs- und sonstigen Risiken aussetzen.
„In addition to instructor-led and web-based training, we offer state-of-the-art training modalities, such as AI-based simulations and Augmented and Virtual Reality learning capabilities, to further the development of our new products, train our manufacturing and field support employees, and facilitate remote collaboration."
Zusätzlich zu Präsenz- und webbasierten Schulungen bieten wir hochmoderne Trainingsformen an, etwa KI-basierte Simulationen sowie Augmented- und Virtual-Reality-Lernangebote, um die Entwicklung unserer neuen Produkte voranzubringen, unsere Fertigungs- und Außendienst-Mitarbeiter zu schulen und die Zusammenarbeit aus der Ferne zu erleichtern.
Filings Reviewed: 10-Q 2026-05-21 · 10-Q 2026-02-19 · 10-Q 2025-08-21 · 10-Q 2025-05-22 · 10-K 2025-12-12 · 10-K 2024-12-13
Rated on July 18, 2026 · How the Rating Is Built
Highlighted are things our editorial team noticed: green = stands out as strong, red = deserves a closer look. No single metric is a verdict on its own — always read it in context.
Quarterly Figures
| Quarter | EPS (Earnings Per Share) | EPS YoY (%) | Sales ($M) | Sales YoY (%) | Net Margin (%) | OCF ($M) | FCF ($M) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025: Q1 | 1.45 | -40.00 | 7,166 | 6.80 | 16.50 | 925 | 544 |
| 2025: Q2 | 2.62 | 27.30 | 7,100 | 6.80 | 30.10 | 1,571 | 1,061 |
| 2025: Q3 | 2.19 | 7.20 | 7,302 | 7.70 | 24.40 | 2,634 | 2,050 |
| 2025: Q4 | 2.38 | 13.70 | 6,800 | -3.50 | 27.90 | 2,828 | 2,043 |
| 2026: Q1 | 2.54 | 75.30 | 7,012 | -2.10 | 28.90 | 1,686 | 1,040 |
| 2026: Q2 | 3.51 | 33.90 | 7,910 | 11.40 | 35.50 | 843 | 208 |
- EPS (Earnings Per Share):
- Quarterly profit divided by the total share count — how much of the profit works out to a single share.
- YoY (Year over Year):
- Change versus the same quarter a year ago — this is how you compare without seasonal distortion (e.g. the holiday shopping season).
- Sales:
- All revenue for the quarter, before any costs are deducted — the top line of the income statement.
- Net Margin:
- What percentage of sales is left over as profit in the end. Negative means the company is posting a loss.
- OCF (Operating Cash Flow):
- The cash that actually flows into the till from the core business during the quarter — harder to dress up than book profit.
- FCF (Free Cash Flow):
- Operating cash flow minus capital expenditures — the money that's genuinely free to use, say for paying down debt, buybacks, or dividends.
Assessment: Opportunities & Risks
The world's largest maker of chip-manufacturing equipment, claiming a hand in "virtually every semiconductor in the world" (10-K FY 2025); three revenue records in a row ($26.5 → $28.4 billion, FY 2023–2025), a services business with $6.4 billion of revenue and nearly half of the $15 billion backlog as a cycle cushion.
All five screenable criteria passed with room to spare (data as of 07/18/2026): return on equity ~40%, debt-to-equity 0.32, EBIT margin ~32%, six quarters of rising earnings, positive FCF — plus an Altman-Z of ~13.6, Piotroski 7/9 and $12.9 billion of cash and investments (10/26/2025).
The 45 percent jump in half-year net income to $4.832 billion feeds primarily on $1.157 billion of unrealized portfolio gains and a tax rate that fell from 25.2 to 13.0 percent; operating income rose just 0.2 percent (10-Q as of 04/26/2026). Both effects are reversible.
A $253 million BIS settlement (02/11/2026) over China shipments with a suspended denial order and three years of probation conditions — with China at 30 percent of revenue (FY 2025; FY 2024: 37 percent), a direct regulatory lever on the top line.
Two customers accounted for 19 and 15 percent of FY 2025 revenue (FY 2024: 12 and 11 percent) — typical for an industry with a handful of fab builders worldwide, but the AI demand behind it is, per the company's own 10-K, "difficult to accurately forecast."
P/E near 59, price-to-sales near 18, price to free cash flow near 99 after a roughly 245 percent twelve-month run (data as of 07/18/2026) — historically the cyclical traded at 15 to 25 times earnings; the company itself cut buybacks by about three quarters in H1 FY 2026.
Applied Materials is the textbook case that a quality sieve and a buy signal are two different things: the company passes all five Buffett criteria with room to spare, earns world-class margins on the chip industry's indispensable toolbox, and carries essentially no net debt. At the same time, the latest profit jump comes almost entirely from unrealized portfolio gains and a tax effect, the China business (30 percent of revenue) sits under a three-year probation regime after the $253 million settlement, and a valuation near 59 times earnings prices the machinery maker like a software company. Whoever invests here is not buying the sieve result but the continuation of the AI capex boom at full price. Not investment advice.
- AMAT made the research list as rank 8 of our in-house Buffett criteria scanner (U.S. selection, 25 U.S. hits of 104 total, as of July 18, 2026) — part of our series on the top 20 of that selection.
- Scanner metrics (ROE, debt-to-equity, EBIT margin, P/E, P/S, Piotroski, Altman-Z) use trailing twelve-month figures as of July 18, 2026; the Buffett criteria test quality and earnings direction, not the purchase price.
- Price and market value figures (~$670, ~$530 billion) from the July 18, 2026 feed, sanity-checked against 794 million shares outstanding per the quarterly report 10-Q as of April 26, 2026; analyses are evergreen, daily prices are not a buy argument.
About the Company
Applied Materials, Inc. liefert Lösungen, Anlagen, Dienste und Software für Materialtechnik an die Halbleiter- und verwandte Industrien in den USA, China, Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Südostasien, Europa und international.
| Employees | 36,400 |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Santa Clara, CA |
| Website | appliedmaterials.com |
| IPO Date | 5. Oct 1972 |
| Next Earnings | 13. Aug 2026 |
Management
| Name | Title | Birth Year |
|---|---|---|
| Gary E. Dickerson | President, CEO & Executive Director | 1957 |
| Brice A. Hill | Senior VP, CFO & leads Global Information Services | 1967 |
| Omkaram Nalamasu Ph.D. | SVP, CTO, President Applied Ventures, LLC & Chair of the Growth Technical Advisory Board | 1958 |
| Prabu G. Raja Ph.D. | President of Semiconductor Products Group | 1963 |
| Timothy M. Deane | Senior Vice President of Applied Global Services | 1966 |
| Adam Sanders | VP, Corporate Controller & Chief Accounting Officer | 1972 |
| Teri A. Little J.D. | Senior VP, Chief Legal Officer & Corporate Secretary | 1965 |
| Joseph M. Pon | Chief Public Affairs Officer and Corporate VP of Communications & Public Affairs | – |
| Joji Sekhon Gill | Senior VP & Chief Human Resources Officer | 1965 |
| Charles W. Read | Corporate VP of Business Units & Operations CFO | 1966 |
Executives per the latest required filings; titles kept in their original language. Source: fundamental data.
Chart
Interactive price chart (TradingView).
Data as of: July 20, 2026 · Source: fundamental data & SEC filings (annual and quarterly reports, 10-K/10-Q)
Note: pure fact-based analysis, not investment advice and not a solicitation to buy or sell. All figures without guarantee.