Applied Materials stock falls as AI chip boom meets market pullback

Applied Materials stock is under pressure after a more than 3 percent drop, even though the semiconductor equipment maker recently reported strong AI-driven growth and record quarterly results.

Applied Materials, Inc. (ISIN US0382221051) stock is trading lower in early September 2026, with the shares around 441.35 dollars as of September 2, 2026, after a more than 3 percent slide the previous trading day on the Nasdaq.

Stock reacts to sector-wide selloff

According to market data compiled by Robinhood, Applied Materials stock was quoted at 441.35 dollars on September 2, 2026, giving the company a market capitalization of about 350.64 billion dollars as semiconductor equipment names faced broad selling pressure.

The same Robinhood overview shows that on September 2, 2026 the stock traded in a range between 438.83 and 452.05 dollars, with intraday moves leaving the price about 0.6 percent above the day’s low and roughly 2.4 percent below the intraday high, underlining the volatility investors are currently seeing.

Recent price move and analyst backdrop

A separate alert from MarketBeat dated September 1, 2026 reported that Applied Materials shares fell 3.6 percent in mid-day trading to about 441.85 dollars, compared with a previous close of 458.39 dollars, with roughly 7.1 million shares changing hands as the market reassessed richly valued chip and equipment stocks.

That same MarketBeat report highlights that despite the pullback, analyst sentiment on Applied Materials remains broadly constructive, with the stock still carrying a Moderate Buy consensus and an average price target of 658.45 dollars per share, implying notable upside from the low 440-dollar trading area as of early September 2026.

Record fiscal Q3 2026 figures support long-term story

Even as the share price has recently come under pressure, Applied Materials latest published results for fiscal third quarter 2026 provide a strong fundamental backdrop, with traders union data indicating that the company delivered earnings per share of 3.50 dollars and achieved record quarterly revenue of 9.12 billion dollars in that period.

According to the same traders union commentary, that 9.12 billion dollars revenue figure for fiscal Q3 2026 represented 24.8 percent growth compared with the same quarter a year earlier, underscoring how demand for equipment used to manufacture artificial intelligence chips is translating directly into double-digit top-line expansion.

The record earnings per share of 3.50 dollars in fiscal Q3 2026 also exceeded market expectations, and the company complemented the performance with a quarterly cash dividend of 0.53 dollars per share, which on an annualized basis implies cash returns to shareholders of more than 2 dollars per share each year at the current payout level.

AI chip equipment demand and sector context

Traders union notes that the robust fiscal Q3 2026 numbers were driven by strong orders for manufacturing tools used in advanced AI chip production, a trend that has benefited several semiconductor equipment peers and positioned Applied Materials as a key enabler of high-performance computing capacity.

Regional market commentary from Asia on September 2, 2026 shows that the selloff in semiconductor-related stocks has been broad-based, with one Taiwanese market report highlighting that Applied Materials declined about 3.61 percent alongside drops of 3.74 percent for Lam Research and losses of more than 2 percent for other chip and equipment names as rising oil prices pushed yields higher and weighed on capital-intensive growth stocks.

Key product and business focus

Applied Materials generates a significant portion of its revenue by supplying deposition, patterning and inspection systems used in leading-edge logic and memory fabs, and the company’s tools are widely deployed in production lines that manufacture graphics processing units and accelerators for artificial intelligence workloads.

Stock level and investor takeaway

With Applied Materials stock trading around 441.35 dollars on the Nasdaq as of September 2, 2026, the shares are currently well below the average analyst price target of 658.45 dollars while still reflecting the company’s position as a major global supplier of semiconductor fabrication equipment.

Applied Materials at a glance

• Company: Applied Materials, Inc.
• ISIN: US0382221051
• Ticker: AMAT
• Trading venue: NASDAQ
• Price (as of September 2, 2026): 441.35 USD
• Market capitalization: 350.64 billion USD (as of September 2, 2026)
• Sector / Industry: Information Technology / Semiconductor Equipment
• Index membership: S&P 500