Stifel raised its price targets for several semiconductor equipment firms on Monday, expecting DRAM fab investment to improve in the near term and strengthening positioning in AI computing.
Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT), Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX), KLA (NASDAQ:KLAC), Teradyne (NASDAQ:TER)
The brokerage rated Applied Materials as Buy, raising its target price to $215 from $180 earlier on the back of FY26 earnings estimates. The analyst was bullish on the firm’s strong, diversified product portfolio to address customers’ future technology needs.
Meanwhile, KLA’s strong margins, market leadership in process control, and steady cash flow justify a premium valuation to the broader S&P, Stifel said, assigning a Buy rating for the stock.
Lam Research’s (LCRX) target price was raised to $135, while that for Teradyne was increased to $119. Although the analyst rated the latter as Hold, arguing that cyclical pressures on semiconductor shipments have not fully eased.
Teradyne leads in semiconductor testing with some AI-driven improvement, but uncertainty and withdrawn 2025 forecasts warrant caution until clearer recovery or GPU/ASIC test gains emerge, it said.
Advanced Energy Industries (NASDAQ:AEIS), Onto Innovation (NYSE:ONTO), Camtek (NASDAQ:CAMT), FormFactor (NASDAQ:FORM)
Analysts had a Buy call for Advanced Energy Industries with a target price raised to $175 on expectations of diversified revenue growth and improving cross-cycle profitability.
Camtek was also rated as Buy with a target price of $115, noting it is well-positioned in the advanced packaging market.
Both Onto Innovation (ONTO and FormFactor (NASDAQ:FORM) were rated Hold with target prices of $120 and $35, respectively.
Cohu (NASDAQ:COHU), Ichor Holdings (NASDAQ:ICHR)
Both Cohu (NASDAQ:COHU) and Ichor Holdings (NASDAQ:ICHR) had Buy recommendations with price targets of $28 and $23.
Even as Stifel remains optimistic about the industry, it sees Wafer Fab Equipment (WFE) spending increasing 5% in 2026, below the sell-side’s more optimistic 10%+ forecasts.
“Breaking WFE into its components, we are upbeat on the direction of investment in DRAM (expansion)/NAND (upgrades), but more pragmatic on advanced foundry/logic growth, and more cautious on China,” analyst Brian Chin said.
Stifel projected China’s WFE spending to likely be lower in 2026, contrary to some sell-side expectations.