How to buy Applied Materials shares

Applied Materials, Inc is a semiconductor equipment & materials business with stocks listed in the US. Applied Materials shares (AMAT) are listed on the NASDAQ and all prices are listed in US Dollars. Its last market close was US$113.93 – a decrease of -INF% over the previous week. Here's how to invest if you're based in Australia.

How to buy shares in Applied Materials

1. Compare share trading platforms. To buy shares in a US company from Australia you'll need to find a trading platform that offers access to US stock markets. If you're just starting out, look for a platform with low brokerage and foreign exchange fees.
2. Open and fund your brokerage account. Complete an application with your personal and financial details, like your ID and tax file number. Fund your account with a bank transfer, credit card or debit card.
3. Search for Applied Materials. Find the share by name or ticker symbol: AMAT. Research its history to confirm it's a solid investment against your financial goals.
4. Purchase now or later. Buy today with a market order or use a limit order to delay your purchase until Applied Materials reaches your desired price. To spread out your risk, look into dollar-cost averaging, which smooths out buying at consistent intervals and amounts.
5. Decide on how many to buy. At last close price of US$113.93, weigh your budget against a diversified portfolio that can minimise risk through the market's ups and downs. You may be able to buy a fractional share of Applied Materials, depending on your broker.
6. Check in on your investment. Congratulations, you own a part of Applied Materials. Optimise your portfolio by tracking how your stock — and even the business — performs with an eye on the long term. You may be eligible for dividends and shareholder voting rights on directors and management that can affect your stock.

Applied Materials share price

Use our graph to track the performance of AMAT stocks over time.

Applied Materials shares at a glance

• Key figures

Information last updated 2021-04-15.

52-week range	US$45.6619 - US$146
50-day moving average	US$123.2937
200-day moving average	US$94.032
Target price	US$152
PE ratio	32.0856
Dividend yield	US$0.88 (0.66%)
Earnings per share (TTM)	US$4.181

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The value of your investments can fall as well as rise and you may get back less than you invested. Past performance is no indication of future results.

Is it a good time to buy Applied Materials stock?

The technical analysis gauge below displays real-time ratings for the timeframes you select. This is not a recommendation, however. It represents a technical analysis based on the most popular technical indicators: Moving Averages, Oscillators and Pivots. Finder might not concur and takes no responsibility.

Technical Analysis of Applied Materials, Inc by TradingView

Applied Materials price performance over time

Historical closes compared with the last close of $113.93

1 week (2021-04-12)	-15.61%
1 month (2021-03-19)	-0.81%
3 months (2021-01-19)	4.31%
6 months (2020-10-19)	83.61%

1 year (2020-04-17)	114.15%
2 years (2019-04-18)	159.23%
3 years (2018-04-19)	122.56%
5 years (2016-04-19)	437.41%

Is Applied Materials under- or over-valued?

Valuing Applied Materials stock is incredibly difficult, and any metric has to be viewed as part of a bigger picture of Applied Materials's overall performance. However, analysts commonly use some key metrics to help gauge the value of a stock.

Applied Materials's P/E ratio

Applied Materials's current share price divided by its per-share earnings (EPS) over a 12-month period gives a "trailing price/earnings ratio" of roughly 32x. In other words, Applied Materials shares trade at around 32x recent earnings.

That's relatively high compared to, say, the trailing 12-month P/E ratio for the NASDAQ 100 at the end of 2019 (27.29). The high P/E ratio could mean that investors are optimistic about the outlook for the shares or simply that they're over-valued.

Applied Materials's PEG ratio

Applied Materials's "price/earnings-to-growth ratio" can be calculated by dividing its P/E ratio by its growth – to give 1.8668. A low ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer better value, while a higher ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer worse value.

The PEG ratio provides a broader view than just the P/E ratio, as it gives more insight into Applied Materials's future profitability. By accounting for growth, it could also help you if you're comparing the share prices of multiple high-growth companies.

Applied Materials's EBITDA

Applied Materials's EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) is US$5.2 billion (£3.8 billion).

The EBITDA is a measure of a Applied Materials's overall financial performance and is widely used to measure a its profitability.

Applied Materials financials

Revenue TTM	US$18.2 billion
Operating margin TTM	26.77%
Gross profit TTM	US$7.7 billion
Return on assets TTM	14.14%
Return on equity TTM	38.31%
Profit margin	21.19%
Book value	12.502
Market capitalisation	US$123.1 billion

TTM: trailing 12 months

Shorting Applied Materials shares

There are currently 11.9 million Applied Materials shares held short by investors – that's known as Applied Materials's "short interest". This figure is 13.5% up from 10.5 million last month.

There are a few different ways that this level of interest in shorting Applied Materials shares can be evaluated.

Applied Materials's "short interest ratio" (SIR)

Applied Materials's "short interest ratio" (SIR) is the quantity of Applied Materials shares currently shorted divided by the average quantity of Applied Materials shares traded daily (recently around 10.4 million). Applied Materials's SIR currently stands at 1.14. In other words for every 100,000 Applied Materials shares traded daily on the market, roughly 1140 shares are currently held short.

However Applied Materials's short interest can also be evaluated against the total number of Applied Materials shares, or, against the total number of tradable Applied Materials shares (the shares that aren't held by "insiders" or major long-term shareholders – also known as the "float"). In this case Applied Materials's short interest could be expressed as 0.01% of the outstanding shares (for every 100,000 Applied Materials shares in existence, roughly 10 shares are currently held short) or 0.013% of the tradable shares (for every 100,000 tradable Applied Materials shares, roughly 13 shares are currently held short).

Such a low SIR usually points to an optimistic outlook for the share price, with fewer people currently willing to bet against Applied Materials.

Find out more about how you can short Applied Materials stock.

Applied Materials's environmental, social and governance track record

Environmental, social and governance (known as ESG) criteria are a set of three factors used to measure the sustainability and social impact of companies like Applied Materials.

When it comes to ESG scores, lower is better, and lower scores are generally associated with lower risk for would-be investors.

Applied Materials's total ESG risk score

Total ESG risk: 12.25

Socially conscious investors use ESG scores to screen how an investment aligns with their worldview, and Applied Materials's overall score of 12.25 (as at 12/31/2018) is excellent – landing it in it in the 5th percentile of companies rated in the same sector.

ESG scores are increasingly used to estimate the level of risk a company like Applied Materials is exposed to within the areas of "environmental" (carbon footprint, resource use etc.), "social" (health and safety, human rights etc.), and "governance" (anti-corruption, tax transparency etc.).

Applied Materials's environmental score

Environmental score: 3.83/100

Applied Materials's social score

Social score: 2.92/100

Applied Materials's governance score

Governance score: 5.01/100

Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) summary

Applied Materials, Inc was last rated for ESG on: 2019-01-01.

Total ESG score	12.25
Total ESG percentile	5.36
Environmental score	3.83
Social score	2.92
Governance score	5.01

Applied Materials share dividends

Dividend payout ratio: 19.17% of net profits

Recently Applied Materials has paid out, on average, around 19.17% of net profits as dividends. That has enabled analysts to estimate a "forward annual dividend yield" of 0.72% of the current stock value. This means that over a year, based on recent payouts (which are sadly no guarantee of future payouts), Applied Materials shareholders could enjoy a 0.72% return on their shares, in the form of dividend payments. In Applied Materials's case, that would currently equate to about $0.88 per share.

While Applied Materials's payout ratio might seem low, this can signify that Applied Materials is investing more in its future growth.

Applied Materials's most recent dividend payout was on 16 June 2021. The latest dividend was paid out to all shareholders who bought their shares by 25 May 2021 (the "ex-dividend date").

Have Applied Materials's shares ever split?

Applied Materials's shares were split on a 2:1 basis on 16 April 2002. So if you had owned 1 share the day before before the split, the next day you'd have owned 2 shares. This wouldn't directly have changed the overall worth of your Applied Materials shares – just the quantity. However, indirectly, the new 50% lower share price could have impacted the market appetite for Applied Materials shares which in turn could have impacted Applied Materials's share price.

Applied Materials share price volatility

Over the last 12 months, Applied Materials's shares have ranged in value from as little as US$45.6619 up to US$146. A popular way to gauge a stock's volatility is its "beta".

Beta is a measure of a share's volatility in relation to the market. The market (NASDAQ average) beta is 1, while Applied Materials's is 1.4986. This would suggest that Applied Materials's shares are more volatile than the average for this exchange and represent, relatively-speaking, a higher risk (but potentially also market-beating returns).

Applied Materials overview

Applied Materials, Inc. provides manufacturing equipment, services, and software to the semiconductor, display, and related industries. It operates through three segments: Semiconductor Systems, Applied Global Services, and Display and Adjacent Markets. The Semiconductor Systems segment develops, manufactures, and sells various manufacturing equipment that is used to fabricate semiconductor chips or integrated circuits. This segment also offers various technologies, including epitaxy, ion implantation, oxidation/nitridation, rapid thermal processing, physical vapor deposition, chemical vapor deposition, chemical mechanical planarization, electrochemical deposition, atomic layer deposition, etching, and selective deposition and removal, as well as metrology and inspection tools. The Applied Global Services segment provides integrated solutions to optimize equipment and fab performance and productivity comprising spares, upgrades, services, remanufactured earlier generation equipment, and factory automation software for semiconductor, display, and other products. The Display and Adjacent Markets segment offers products for manufacturing liquid crystal displays; organic light-emitting diodes; and other display technologies for TVs, monitors, laptops, personal computers, electronic tablets, smart phones, and other consumer-oriented devices, as well as equipment for processing flexible substrates. The company operates in the United States, China, Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Southeast Asia, and Europe. Applied Materials, Inc. was founded in 1967 and is headquartered in Santa Clara, California.

Frequently asked questions

• What percentage of Applied Materials is owned by insiders or institutions?

  Currently 0.369% of Applied Materials shares are held by insiders and 82.806% by institutions.

• When does the fiscal year end for Applied Materials?

  Applied Materials's fiscal year ends in October.

• Where is Applied Materials based?

  Applied Materials's address is: 3050 Bowers Avenue, Santa Clara, CA, United States, 95052-3299

• What is Applied Materials's ISIN number?

  Applied Materials's international securities identification number is: US0382221051

• What is Applied Materials's CUSIP number?

  Applied Materials's Committee on Uniform Securities Identification Procedures number is: 038222105