How much a stock's price changes over time is a significant driver for most investors. Not only can price performance impact your portfolio, but it can help you compare investment results across sectors and industries as well.

Another thing that can drive investing is the fear of missing out, or FOMO. This particularly applies to tech giants and popular consumer-facing stocks.

What if you'd invested in Applied Materials (AMAT Quick QuoteAMAT - 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 a leading supplier of equipment used to manufacture semiconductor devices, flat panel displays and solar photovoltaic (PV) products. The company also provides deployment and support services for the tools it installs at customer fabs.

Applied Materials currently reports results in two major reportable segments. Semiconductor Systems is the largest segment and includes equipment used in front-end semiconductor manufacturing, including the 200-millimeter equipment business, which moved into Semiconductor Systems beginning in the first quarter of fiscal 2026. Applied Global Services provides spares, upgrades, service contracts and other productivity solutions that help customers improve uptime, output and yield across a large installed base. Other category primarily includes the Display business and certain corporate activities.

Effective in the first quarter of fiscal 2026, management also began fully allocating corporate support costs to the operating segments. Prior-period results were recast to conform to the current presentation.

Applied Materials’ semiconductor equipment portfolio supports front-end operations in the chipmaking process. These steps involve the deposition or implantation of multiple thin layers of electronically conductive, semiconductive and insulating materials onto and within a silicon wafer, using photomasks, or reticles, to create multiple copies of integrated circuit devices.

With more than 33,000 systems installed, Applied Global Services supports customers through a mix of parts, upgrades and service programs. Applied Materials has developed technologies for larger-sized wafers made of materials other than silicon. This has expanded its portfolio into equipment for thin film transistor (TFT) LCDs made from glass and OLED displays, which are used in smartphones, TVs and other consumer electronic devices. The company operates this business under Display, which is included in the Other category.

As a leading producer of specialized equipment, Applied Materials competes primarily with other large equipment makers, such as KLA Corporation and Lam Research.

Bottom Line

Anyone can invest, but building a successful investment portfolio takes a combination of a few things: research, patience, and a little bit of risk. So, if you had invested in Applied Materials a decade ago, you're probably feeling pretty good about your investment today.

A $1000 investment made in September 2016 would be worth $16,351.99, or a gain of 1,535.20%, as of September 28, 2026, according to our calculations. This return excludes dividends but includes price appreciation.

Compare this to the S&P 500's rally of 257.71% and gold's return of 208.39% over the same time frame.

Analysts are forecasting more upside for AMAT too.

Applied Materials is benefiting from AI-driven investment that is concentrating wafer fabrication spending in leading-edge foundry-logic, DRAM and advanced packaging, where its materials engineering portfolio has broad exposure. New process tools, rising advanced packaging demand and a larger connected service base support continued share capture and value-based pricing. Longer customer forecasts and planned manufacturing expansion improve visibility into another growth year, while recurring services and disciplined capital returns add resilience. Risks remain from capital spending cyclicality, reliance on large customers, China-related export controls, competitive intensity and the execution burden of scaling capacity. Even so, the current demand mix and margin trajectory support an Outperform view over the next cycle.

Shares have gained 5.05% over the past four weeks and there have been 13 higher earnings estimate revisions for fiscal 2026 compared to none lower. The consensus estimate has moved up as well.