New York, Feb 20, 2026, 15:38 (EST) — Regular session
Lam Research Corp (LRCX) jumped 2.4% to $243.19 during Friday’s afternoon session, trading as low as $236.68 and touching $245.70 at the high end. BofA Securities’ Vivek Arya kept his Buy on the stock, maintained a $285 target, and once again put Lam at the top of his semiconductor equipment list. He’s looking for $135 billion in wafer fabrication equipment (WFE) spend in 2026. 1
The call drops into a market still puzzling over what the AI buildout spells for “pick-and-shovel” stocks. Chip toolmakers see orders spike as customers ramp up factories, but those same orders can dry up fast once projects run into space, power, or timing constraints.
Nvidia’s numbers land next week, putting the focus squarely on its narrative. Analysts surveyed by LSEG and cited by Reuters are looking for quarterly earnings per share to surge 71%, with revenue pegged at around $65.9 billion. “It can be hard for Nvidia to surprise,” said Empower’s chief investment strategist Marta Norton. Nick Giorgi at Alpine Macro, meanwhile, pointed out that CEO Jensen Huang has to “show his confidence in his own customers.” 2
Chip stocks moved up on Friday, with Applied Materials climbing 1.0% and KLA up 0.7%. Nvidia tacked on roughly 0.8%. The iShares Semiconductor ETF advanced 0.7%.
Nvidia’s announcement earlier this week of a multi-year agreement to supply Meta Platforms with millions of AI chips—covering both current and next-generation models—gave a jolt to AI-linked stocks after some recent valuation nerves. “At a certain point, weakness in tech was bound to bring in the marginal buyer,” Ross Mayfield, investment strategy analyst at Baird, told Reuters. 3
Still, Lam and its rivals could be running up against a wall if enthusiasm for hefty AI investments cools further. Some investors are already rotating out of AI-centric megacap stocks in favor of so-called “infrastructure” names. Others caution that price tags are ballooning. “Valuations for anything with AI exposure are getting a bit rich,” Michael Reynolds, vice president of investment strategy at Glenmede, said. 4
Lam supplies etch and deposition equipment, handling the job of stripping away and layering thin films on silicon wafers—essential work for advanced logic and memory chips. Rivals include Applied Materials and KLA. The stock usually tracks with forecasts for chipmakers’ capital investment.
Management could shed more light for investors in early March. Lam is lined up for Morgan Stanley’s TMT Conference on March 3 and Cantor’s Global Technology & Industrial Growth Conference on March 11, its investor events calendar shows. 5
Traders are zeroed in on Nvidia’s upcoming report set for Wednesday, Feb 25, watching closely for any shift in commentary around data-center demand or AI stack spending. Any disappointment — whether a miss or a more cautious outlook — could hit semiconductor equipment stocks fast.
