New York, Feb 21, 2026, 14:48 EST — Market closed.
- Lam Research ended Friday up 3.2% at $244.92, outpacing chip-tool peers.
- BofA’s Vivek Arya reiterated Buy and kept a $285 target, flagging a 2026 spending step-up for chip-fab tools.
- Tariff and rate headlines remain a live risk as markets reopen on Monday.
Lam Research Corporation (LRCX) shares rose 3.2% on Friday to $244.92, the stock’s best session of the week, after a Bank of America call pushed the chip-equipment maker back into focus ahead of next week’s trade. The stock ranged from $236.68 to $245.70, with about 8.6 million shares traded; Applied Materials gained 1.4%, KLA rose 1.8% and Nvidia added about 1%.
Bank of America Securities analyst Vivek Arya reiterated a Buy and kept a $285 price target, roughly 16% above Friday’s close, calling Lam his top semiconductor-equipment pick. He wrote that “clean-room constraints — not demand — will limit the upcycle,” pointing to 2026 spending on wafer fabrication equipment, or WFE — the machines used inside chip factories — of $135 billion, up 23% from a year earlier. Arya said foundry/logic and DRAM demand remain the anchors, while NAND upgrades are picking up, with the cycle potentially stretching into 2027. (Benzinga)
The timing matters. Semiconductor tool stocks have been moving with every swing in rates and trade policy, and Friday’s session was no exception: U.S. stocks ended higher and Treasury yields rose after the Supreme Court struck down President Donald Trump’s tariffs, while investors also weighed a weak GDP report and hotter-than-expected readings in the personal consumption expenditures price index — the inflation gauge the Federal Reserve watches most. “Striking down of these tariffs will benefit corporate bottom lines, corporate earnings,” Tim Ghriskey, senior portfolio strategist at Ingalls & Snyder, said. (Reuters)
Lam’s own backdrop is still its last set of numbers. In late January, the company forecast third-quarter revenue of $5.7 billion, plus or minus $300 million, and adjusted earnings of $1.35 per share, plus or minus 10 cents, after beating estimates for the December quarter. CEO Tim Archer said then, “Entering 2026, our expanding product and services portfolio is enabling the market’s transition to smaller, more complex three-dimensional devices and packages.” (Reuters)
Investors are trying to separate demand from the ability to deliver. In chip tools, that often comes down to how fast new clean-room space comes online and how long it takes to install systems and qualify production.
Lam tends to trade with other U.S. equipment names because the same customers set the capex tone. But the stock can move harder when memory spending expectations shift, and traders have been quick to chase and fade each incremental data point.
The company has a scheduled moment on the calendar, even if it’s not next week. Lam said CFO Doug Bettinger will present at the Morgan Stanley TMT Conference on March 3 and at the Cantor Global Technology & Industrial Growth Conference on March 11, with live webcasts available to the public. (Lam Research Investor Relations)
There’s also a clear “but” in the setup. Trump said on Saturday he will raise a temporary tariff from 10% to 15% on U.S. imports from all countries after the court struck down his previous program, reopening concerns about policy whiplash and the inflation path. If rates push higher again — or if customers slow orders while fabs work through capacity limits — the recent bid in high-multiple chip names can disappear fast. (Reuters)
For Monday, traders will watch whether Friday’s chip-tool strength holds up once futures react to the weekend tariff headlines and the next read-through on yields.
The next hard catalyst on the AI supply chain arrives midweek: Nvidia said it will host a conference call on Feb. 25 at 5 p.m. ET to discuss its quarterly results. Any shift in data-center demand signals can ripple back to the chipmaking pipeline, including equipment orders that feed companies such as Lam. (Nvidia)
