Applied Materials stock trades near $548 as AI demand sets high bar for earnings

Applied Materials stock is holding near $548 ahead of its August 13, 2026 earnings call, with Wall Street looking for roughly 36% EPS growth and more than 23% revenue growth on powerful AI infrastructure demand.

Applied Materials, Inc. (ISIN US0382221051) stock is trading around $548 ahead of its fiscal third-quarter 2026 earnings release scheduled for August 13, 2026 after the Nasdaq close, with investors bracing for a high-growth quarter powered by artificial intelligence infrastructure spending.

AI-driven expectations for Q3 2026

According to an earnings overview from Zacks, Applied Materials is confirmed to report results on August 13, 2026, with consensus calling for earnings of about $3.38 per share, up roughly 36% year over year, on fiscal Q3 2026 revenue near $9.0 billion, implying about 23% growth versus the prior-year quarter.

Further detail from an earnings preview on Moomoo points to market consensus for fiscal third-quarter 2026 revenue of roughly $9.004 billion, up about 23.3% from the prior-year period, with expected EPS around $3.3944, compared to actual EPS of $2.22 in fiscal third-quarter 2025, a jump of roughly 52.9% over that earlier baseline.

Social and derivatives-market commentary compiled by PrimeTrading highlights that options traders are generally pricing around an 8.5% move in AMAT shares following the earnings release, with implied revenue expectations close to $9 billion and EPS in a $3.16 to $3.56 band based on company guidance, underscoring how tightly the near-term stock reaction is tied to whether results and guidance clear these thresholds.

Stock performance and valuation context

Recent quote data from MarketBeat show Applied Materials shares at $548.15 at the regular-session close on August 12, 2026, up $22.54 or about 4.29% on the day, with after-hours trading around $552.85, a further gain of roughly 0.86% in extended hours.

An AI optimism article from Schaeffer's Research notes that AMAT was last seen around $547.55, benefiting from strength across the AI infrastructure space, while still trading roughly 25% below its June 30, 2026 record high of $739.67, meaning the current price sits more than $190 below that peak even after the latest rebound.

That same Schaeffer's analysis points out that the pullback from the June 30 high has been contained by the 126-day moving average, suggesting that, from a technical perspective, the stock has corrected but preserved a longer-term uptrend, a pattern consistent with strong fundamental expectations but increased volatility around major earnings events.

A valuation-focused article on GuruFocus calculates a proprietary GF Value of $226.09 for AMAT versus the current share price of $548.15, a gap of about 142.4%, and interprets the stock as significantly overvalued relative to that intrinsic value estimate despite analysts’ forecasts for EPS of roughly $3.39 and revenue near $9 billion, both pointing to mid-30% and low-20% growth respectively.

The same GuruFocus overview cites a GF Score of 81 out of 100 for Applied Materials, reflecting solid business quality and financial health, which helps explain how the market has been willing to pay a premium multiple for a company at the center of critical AI and semiconductor equipment spending, even as some valuation models flash caution.

Analyst consensus and earnings history

On the sell-side, an analyst survey compiled by MarketBeat reports that 35 analysts currently cover Applied Materials, with eight assigning a Hold rating, twenty-six rating the stock a Buy, and one rating it a Strong Buy, producing an overall average recommendation of Moderate Buy and an average 12-month price target of about $603.23 per share.

In the same analyst roundup, individual firms such as Citigroup and The Goldman Sachs Group are cited as maintaining buy ratings with respective price targets of approximately $645 for the stock, situating the consensus target near $603 still below the June 30 record high of $739.67 but above the current trading level in the mid-$540s to mid-$550s region.

Looking back to the prior reported quarter, Zacks notes that Applied Materials most recently posted earnings of $2.86 per share versus a consensus estimate of $2.68, delivering a positive surprise of about 6.72%, which frames the current $3.38 consensus EPS expectation for the upcoming release as another step-change higher from that already-strong base.

A preview from MSN similarly summarizes Wall Street projections for EPS around $3.39 and revenue around $9 billion, translating to about 36.7% EPS growth and 23.3% revenue growth, and highlights that the shares have climbed roughly 104% year to date compared with a gain of about 13% in the broader S&P 500 Index.

That same MSN coverage also emphasizes differentiated views between research platforms, noting that some quantitative and Seeking Alpha analyses rate the stock as a Hold, whereas traditional Wall Street analyst consensus registers as Strong Buy, underscoring how differing valuation frameworks can coexist with similar underlying growth expectations.

Derivatives and sentiment analysis from Barchart indicates that AMAT contracts expiring around August 14, 2026 carry a put-to-call ratio near 1.4 times, signaling a relatively strong bearish skew in options positioning even as the same data set describes a Strong Buy consensus rating and a mean price target around $630, roughly 15% above current levels.

Barchart also notes that AMAT shares are down more than 23% from their year-to-date high, similar to the roughly 25% decline from the June 30 record high highlighted by Schaeffer's, with some options pricing pointing to potential downside below $517 following the earnings release, illustrating how short-term traders are hedging against volatility even as long-term forecasts still bake in upside.

Semiconductor equipment for AI era

Applied Materials is a leading supplier of semiconductor manufacturing equipment used to deposit, etch, inspect, and modify thin films across advanced logic, memory, and specialty device production, positioning the company at the heart of capital expenditure cycles tied to AI accelerators, cloud data centers, and high-performance computing systems.

Pre-earnings commentary from Moomoo notes that spending by both traditional cloud service providers and newer "Neocloud" players on AI-related capital expenditures has recently delivered returns above expectations, and that consensus revenue growth of about 23.3% for Applied Materials in fiscal third-quarter 2026 would mark a notable acceleration from the roughly 11.4% revenue growth seen in the prior quarter.

The company's tools are critical for scaling leading-edge process nodes and high-bandwidth memory, and current expectations for net income around $2.73 billion on approximately $9.0 billion of revenue, as summarized by Futunn's earnings metrics snapshot, imply very strong profitability levels that help support ongoing research and development as well as shareholder returns.

Shares ahead of earnings on Nasdaq

Applied Materials stock trades on Nasdaq under the ticker AMAT, and quote data from MarketBeat and Zacks show the shares around $548.15 as of the close on August 12, 2026, with a same-day gain of about 4.29% in regular hours and additional strength in extended trading, reflecting investor confidence heading into the after-market earnings call scheduled for 4:30 p.m. ET on August 13, 2026.

At roughly $548 per share, AMAT is still more than 20% to 25% below its late-June record high but has risen over 100% year to date according to the MSN overview, substantially outperforming the S&P 500 Index's roughly 13% advance over the same span and reinforcing the stock's profile as a high-beta way to gain exposure to AI-related semiconductor capital spending.

Applied Materials stock snapshot

• Company: Applied Materials, Inc.
• ISIN: US0382221051
• CUSIP: 038222105
• Ticker: AMAT
• Exchange: Nasdaq
• Price (as of August 12, 2026, 4:00 p.m. ET): $548.15 USD
• Market cap: $approx. 460 billion (as of August 12, 2026)
• Sector / Industry: Information Technology / Semiconductor equipment
• Index membership: S&P 500
• Next earnings date: August 13, 2026