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Here's How Much a $1000 Investment in Applied Materials Made 10 Years Ago Would Be Worth Today

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How much a stock's price changes over time is important for most investors, since price performance can both impact your investment portfolio and help you compare investment results across sectors and industries.

The fear of missing out, or FOMO, also plays a factor in investing, especially with particular tech giants, as well as popular consumer-facing stocks.

What if you'd invested in Applied Materials (AMAT - Free Report) ten years ago? It may not have been easy to hold on to AMAT for all that time, but if you did, how much would your investment be worth today?

Applied Materials' Business In-Depth

With that in mind, let's take a look at Applied Materials' main business drivers.

Headquartered in Santa Clara, California, Applied Materials is one of the world’s largest suppliers of equipment for the fabrication of semiconductor, flat panel liquid crystal displays (LCDs), and solar photovoltaic (PV) cells and modules. The company also offers deployment and support services related to the equipment supplied.

In fiscal 2025, Applied reported results in four segments—Semiconductor Systems (73.3% of total revenue), Applied Global Services (22.5%), and Corporate and Other (4.2%). The Corporate and Other segment included 89.5% of Display revenues.

Applied Materials’ Silicon segment offers equipment for front-end operations in the semiconductor manufacturing process. Front-end processes involve the deposition or implantation of multiple thin layers of electronically conductive, semiconductive and insulating materials onto and within a silicon wafer with the help of photomasks (reticles) to give multiple copies of integrated circuit devices.

With over 33,000 systems installed, the Applied Global Services segment goes a long way to ensure customer satisfaction and support. There are primarily three kinds of services offered.

Applied has developed technologies for significantly larger-sized wafers made of materials other than silicon. This has helped it expand its portfolio into equipment for thin film transistor (TFT) LCDs (made from glass) and OLED, which are used in smartphones, TVs and other consumer electronic devices. The company operates this business under the Display segment.

The Energy and Environmental Solutions segment primarily consists of the solar product line. Currently, the company offers equipment for manufacturing both wafer-based crystalline silicon (c-Si) and glass-based thin film used in the solar PV cell fabrication process.

Being a leading producer of specialized equipment, most of the competition comes from other large equipment makers, such as KLAC and LRCX.

Bottom Line

Putting together a successful investment portfolio takes a combination of research, patience, and a little bit of risk. For Applied Materials, if you bought shares a decade ago, you're likely feeling really good about your investment today.

A $1000 investment made in March 2016 would be worth $17,673.99, or a 1,667.40% gain, as of March 11, 2026, according to our calculations. Investors should note that this return excludes dividends but includes price increases.

The S&P 500 rose 240.85% and the price of gold increased 300.18% over the same time frame in comparison.

Analysts are forecasting more upside for AMAT too.

Applied Materials is benefiting from strength in the Semiconductor Systems, owing to a rebound in the semiconductor industry, particularly in the foundry and logic space. Consistent progress in the services is aiding Applied Global Services' performance. Solid momentum in the subscription and display businesses is a plus. Its strength in IoT, Communications, Auto, Power and Sensors (ICAPS) is likely to continue aiding its position in the semiconductor industry. Its diversified portfolio remains its key growth driver. Shares of the company have outperformed the industry over the past year. However, increasing U.S.-China tensions and export restrictions on semiconductor manufacturing equipment may undermine its near-term growth prospects. Slow memory market recovery and rising operating costs remain other major concerns.

The stock is up 5.11% over the past four weeks, and no earnings estimate has gone lower in the past two months, compared to 10 higher, for fiscal 2026. The consensus estimate has moved up as well.

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