New York, February 22, 2026, 12:44 EST — Market closed.
Applied Materials shares rose 1.5% on Friday to close at $375.38, extending a five-session run that left the chip-equipment maker within 0.25% of its 52-week high. Volume was about 8.2 million shares, slightly above its 50-day average, as Wall Street finished a broadly higher day. (MarketWatch)
With U.S. markets shut for the weekend, the stock goes into Monday priced for good news in the AI hardware cycle. Investors are braced for a major AI bellwether’s earnings this week, a moment that can reset expectations for chip demand and the spending plans that ultimately drive equipment orders. (Reuters)
Applied’s own outlook is the other piece holding the tape together. Earlier this month, the company forecast second-quarter sales of about $7.65 billion, plus or minus $500 million, and adjusted profit of about $2.64 per share, plus or minus 20 cents, topping analysts’ estimates compiled by LSEG; it also reported first-quarter revenue of $7.01 billion and adjusted profit of $2.38 per share. CEO Gary Dickerson said the results were “fueled by the acceleration of industry investments in AI computing,” while Rothschild & Co. Redburn analyst Timm Schulze-Melander described memory and logic-foundry capex — capital spending — as “two sides of the same coin.” (Reuters)
The rest of the group moved in the same direction into the weekend. Lam Research climbed 3.2% and KLA rose 1.8% in Friday’s regular session, keeping chip-equipment names in step as investors leaned back into cyclicals tied to data centers. (MarketWatch)
At these levels, traders are less focused on what happened last quarter and more on what gets ordered next. Anything that hints at tighter memory supply, faster build-outs for AI servers, or more advanced packaging spending tends to support the “tools up” trade in Applied and its peers.
But export rules and China exposure remain a live risk. Applied agreed to pay $252 million to settle a U.S. Commerce Department case over illegal exports of chipmaking equipment to China’s SMIC, and the episode has kept compliance and licensing questions close to the story. (Reuters)
There is also the simple risk of disappointment. A weaker-than-feared read on AI demand, or signs that customers are stretching out their spending, can hit equipment stocks quickly when they are sitting near highs.
For Monday and the week ahead, investors will watch whether Applied can hold near its peak without fresh company-specific news, and whether the broader semiconductor complex keeps its footing if megacap tech wobbles. These names tend to trade as a block when risk appetite shifts.
The next clear catalyst is Nvidia’s earnings on Wednesday, February 25, with a conference call scheduled for 5 p.m. ET — a print and outlook that markets often treat as a checkpoint for AI spending across the hardware supply chain. (NVIDIA Newsroom)
