AMAT vs. LRCX, KLAC, ENTG, MKSI, AMKR, ONTO, AEIS, FORM, ACLS, and VECO
Should you be buying Applied Materials stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Applied Materials include Lam Research (LRCX), KLA (KLAC), Entegris (ENTG), MKS Instruments (MKSI), Amkor Technology (AMKR), Onto Innovation (ONTO), Advanced Energy Industries (AEIS), FormFactor (FORM), Axcelis Technologies (ACLS), and Veeco Instruments (VECO). These companies are all part of the "semiconductor equipment" industry.
Applied Materials vs.
Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX) and Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) are both large-cap computer and technology companies, but which is the better stock? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their media sentiment, earnings, profitability, risk, community ranking, analyst recommendations, valuation, institutional ownership and dividends.
84.6% of Lam Research shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 80.6% of Applied Materials shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.3% of Lam Research shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of Applied Materials shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.
Lam Research has a net margin of 26.49% compared to Applied Materials' net margin of 22.95%. Lam Research's return on equity of 51.86% beat Applied Materials' return on equity.
Applied Materials has higher revenue and earnings than Lam Research. Applied Materials is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Lam Research, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
Lam Research has a beta of 1.65, suggesting that its stock price is 65% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Applied Materials has a beta of 1.67, suggesting that its stock price is 67% more volatile than the S&P 500.
In the previous week, Applied Materials had 25 more articles in the media than Lam Research. MarketBeat recorded 61 mentions for Applied Materials and 36 mentions for Lam Research. Lam Research's average media sentiment score of 1.41 beat Applied Materials' score of 1.20 indicating that Lam Research is being referred to more favorably in the media.
Lam Research pays an annual dividend of $0.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.0%. Applied Materials pays an annual dividend of $1.84 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.1%. Lam Research pays out 25.6% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Applied Materials pays out 22.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Lam Research has raised its dividend for 10 consecutive years and Applied Materials has raised its dividend for 8 consecutive years. Applied Materials is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.
Lam Research currently has a consensus price target of $90.87, indicating a potential downside of 0.36%. Applied Materials has a consensus price target of $199.29, indicating a potential upside of 14.49%. Given Applied Materials' higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Applied Materials is more favorable than Lam Research.
Applied Materials received 512 more outperform votes than Lam Research when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 75.81% of users gave Lam Research an outperform vote while only 71.99% of users gave Applied Materials an outperform vote.
Summary
Lam Research beats Applied Materials on 13 of the 22 factors compared between the two stocks.
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New MarketBeat Followers Over Time
This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding {thisCompany.Symbol} and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
Media Sentiment Over Time
This chart shows the average media sentiment of NASDAQ and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.
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This page (NASDAQ:AMAT) was last updated on 6/10/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff
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